Utopia Demoted

Utopia. That place where no one needs to work, no one gets sick, no one goes hungry, no one dies. No one argues. No one steals, or lies, or murders.

I don't know how we got there. We just woke up to blue skies and sunshine, And a perfect 30° C - although my sister reckoned it was closer to 25° C and my cousin, who hates the summer, said he had snow! Everyone had their own spacious garden with their own personal weather system. The common areas were a moderate temperature - not too hot and not too cold.

Everything was arranged according to each person's needs. Those who loved loud music played it full blast, but something in the air seemed to disrupt the sound waves so they didn’t reach the ears of those who liked it quiet.

People who loved cats had as many as they wanted. People who hated cats found that some invisible barrier kept them away from their own personal space.

Everywhere was within easy walking distance so there was no need for cars and the air stayed pollution free. That's not to say there were no cars - the people who wanted cars had cars, they just drove them in designated car zones where some sort of air bubble stopped the pollution spreading to the car free zones. I never really understood how that worked. The car zones had off road tracks, race tracks, and like I said they were within walking distance of the people who wanted them.

Everyone had time for their hobbies because no one needed to work. And whatever you needed was freely available.

School was optional. Since no one needed to work, and everything was automatically provided, an education was not essential. Some people took advantage of the courses that were freely available and learned as much as they could. Others didn't bother. Most didn't. It was all the same.

I don't remember when things started to change. It may have been with the education.

Since everything was always perfect, and hardly anyone learned anything new and interesting, soon no one needed to talk to anyone else, and over time they forgot how.

Or maybe it started with the boredom. When you have everything your heart desires, what is there left for your heart to yearn for? If you wanted to climb the highest mountain in the world, it was just a short walk to the summit. If you wanted a day at the seaside, it was just a short walk to the beach. There were no challenges anymore. There was no sense of anticipation or excitement. Nobody had to wait, or save up before they could do things. Everything was available. Instantly.

Whatever the reason, I remember the car lovers being the 1st to change. They didn't see why they should be confined to the car zones. They wanted to be allowed to drive their cars anywhere because what's the point in utopia if you can't have everything you want? They didn't understand that the non-car lovers also needed non car zones. And since everyone had forgotten how to talk, there was no negotiation.

The change in mood spread through the music lovers, the cat lovers, the dog lovers, the art lovers, everyone felt that a utopia should mean that everyone had the same thoughts and feelings as they did themselves. Nobody could understand anybody else’s viewpoint.

From that it was only a short step until people felt that they should be entitled to take over their neighbours gardens if they wanted to. After all, what's the point in utopia if you can't have everything you want?

From that it was only a short step to riots, wars, and suddenly it didn't seem like utopia anymore.

I woke up one morning to rain. What was happening? We eventually found out. Utopia wasn't utopia anymore. We had woken up in a Superutopia - because everything has to be inflated. The original utopia had been demoted.

In this Superutopia, some days the weather wasn't your favourite kind of weather, but then when your favourite weather came it was so exciting. Things weren't available on demand anymore. If you wanted something, you had to work for it and wait for it and appreciate the challenge.

The Superutopia is a lot more like the old world. There are wars. There are floods. There are famines. But there is also friendship. There is a reason to strive to make things better. There is hope.

Perhaps it's just as well Utopia was demoted. You should be careful what you wish for...