Write It Out: Instruction Video
“Paul swallowed, suddenly aware of the moisture in his mouth, remembering a dream of thirst. That people could want so for water that they had to recycle their body moisture struck him with a feeling of desolation. “Water’s precious there,” he said.
Hawat nodded, thinking: Perhaps I’m doing it, getting across to him the importance of this planet as an enemy. It’s madness to go in there without that caution in our minds.
Paul looked up at the skylight, aware that it had begun to rain. He saw the spreading wetness on the grey meta-glass. “Water,” he said.
“You’ll learn a great concern for water,” Hawat said. “As the Duke’s son you’ll never want for it, but you’ll see the pressures of thirst all around you.”
Paul wet his lips with his tongue, thinking back to the day a week ago and the ordeal with the Reverend Mother. She, too, had said something about water starvation.
“You’ll learn about the funeral plains,” she’d said, “about the wilderness that is empty, the wasteland where nothing lives except the spice and the sandworms. You’ll stain your eyepits to reduce the sun glare. Shelter will mean a hollow out of the wind and hidden from view. You’ll ride upon your own two feet without ‘thopter or groundcar or mount.”
And Paul had been caught more by her tone – singsong and wavering – than by her words.
“When you live upon Arrakis,” she had said, “khala, the land is empty. The moons will be your friends, the sun your enemy.” “
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These are some interesting thoughts for the Labour Day weekend – thoughts about work and about a planet without water. We in Canada have a federal election coming up very soon, and I suppose it’s time to think about what the federal parties are suggesting where they see Canada going in the next few years. My thoughts of work certainly have changed, and although I have “retired” from my career, I am still “working” in more meaningful ways. My thoughts about the environment have changed a lot from when I was younger. I feel so much more connected to the earth now, with less expectations. What are your thoughts about work, and the environment, and about what our country needs right now? Share your thoughts below!
