The Little Golden Book

[Sunset Sea Islands]

Quotations from Chairman Gao He Ping is a short book setting out the political philosophy of Sunset Sea Islandian leader Gao He Ping. It is a collection of statements, thoughts and speeches written throughout the life of the Chairman of the Party of Radiance. The book is commonly printed in small, easy-to-carry sizes, bound in golden covers, thus becoming known as the Little Golden Book.

[Sunset Sea Islands]

On Succession

1.

1. My father had told me about the day the sun, instead of setting beyond the horizon, fell onto the place where now stands, somewhat cynically named, Sunset City.
2. From a hospital in the countryside, in which he was recovering from the injuries he suffered during the war, he saw the flash of light that blew away the Imperial Palace and with it the old ways.
3. Soon, the hospital was filled with victims of the subsequent fire, which grew stronger with every house it consumed.
4. And as the fire had swallowed the capital whole, it dug into the ancient forests around it, leaving nothing but charred earth.
5. But as the burns across the victims' bodies healed, so did nature reclaim the gaping wounds torn into the mountainside.

2.

1. More than two decades later, I remember talking to a friend at university, who studied to become a dendrologist.
2. He explained to me that after disturbances, such as landslides or wildfires, nature returns in successive phases.
3. The primary successors are lichen, algae and fungi, which pave the way for grasses, weeds and shrubs to grow.
4. And as the once dead soil becomes brimming with life once again, mighty trees start growing anew, forming what is known as a stable climax community.
5. However, my friend explained, a verdant forest is only the theoretical, potential vegetation of an environment rising from the ashes of its predecessor.
6. It often happens that intermediate phases of ecological succession prevail, suffocating saplings underneath, preventing them from realising their rightful potential.

3.

1. Such is also the nature of human communities. Whereas some grow to prosper, others are stifled by forces attempting to prevent them from achieving their destiny.
2. These forces are the scourges of apathy, indecision, and sloth. For to reach a goal, resolute, directed, and collective action is needed.
3. Now, three-quarters of a century after the disturbance, we have shaken off our chains and broken the reign of directionlessness.
4. And as the skyscrapers of the new capital grew, and the trees of the forests surrounding it did, our nation follows in the same manner: skyward, towards our rightful place.