Good Day,

My name is Cassandra Leitans and it is the eighteenth day of March in the year 2101. As I lay on my deathbed, I reflect on the world I live in. I live in a small country called Scientia, (SYE-en-tee-uh) in the capital, Caztown. I am very proud to say that Scientia’s technological might makes up for its small stature. All our electrical power is provided by solar cells, hydroelectricity or windmill powered turbines. All our vehicles are powered by electricity and thus emit no by-products other than heat, which is exhausted in the summer months and used to heat the vehicle in the winter. As a result of this shift to environmentally friendly electricity, greenhouse gasses are virtually non-existent. Breathing problems such as asthma are also practically unheard of in our society. Currently, none of our residents are below the poverty line. Most of the money that made this possible came from my own pocket, as I did not wish to tax my citizens to death. These two facts are causing our immigration rates to increase exponentially year to year. We have already had to add area to our country on five separate occasions. I believe that Scientia will continue to grow and prosper after I pass on.

My society values three things above all others, knowledge, truth and most importantly, honour. To completely loose one’s honour is comparable to being exiled from our community. One can loose his or her honour by violating any of the ten laws stated within the Code of Honour. The Code of Honour is as follows:

1. Homicide is forbidden.

2. Abuse is forbidden.

3. Theft is forbidden.

4. Fraud is forbidden.

5. Aiding a person with the action of violating this code is forbidden.

6. Respect towards authority figures is mandatory.

7. Respect towards one’s country is mandatory.

8. Respect towards oneself is mandatory.

9. Respect towards nature is mandatory.

10. Respect towards this code cannot result in an immoral action.

I will now rationalize my decision to include each of the ten sections into the Code when I first drafted it over half a century ago:

I decided to forbid homicide because I believe that, since humans are all on the same link on the food chain, a human does not have the right to decide when, how, or why another human should perish. However, the act of homicide will go unpunished if a military officer kills an enemy soldier during a declared time of war. Abuse of all types directed toward a human (sexual, physical, emotional, and spiritual) is forbidden because humans cannot live peacefully when bound by a ‘pecking order’ of abuse. I will not tolerate theft because I believe that a person must earn his or her possessions, not take them. If a person is unable to earn things to meet his or her needs, or the needs of his or her family, then they should seek help because help will always be given to those who need it. Fraud of any sort (i.e. forgery) is unacceptable because it creates a feeling of mistrust and negativity among a group of people.

Willingly helping someone violate the Code is immoral because when a person willingly helps another then the helper is condoning the actions of the person that they have helped via at least partially taking part in the action themselves. Also, since the Code needs to be enforced, there needs to be people to enforce it. This can either be a parent, guardian, officer of the law, teacher, or another such person. In any case, the authority and instructions of this person must be respected at all times if that instruction does not violate the code. (See closing paragraph for further information).

A person must be loyal to their country in a sense that any confidential information that could harm one’s country is to be kept confidential. Also, a person must respect himself or herself because each of us only gets to live one life, and the less we respect ourselves and our bodies, the shorter that life lasts. Another thing that is required to live a long and healthy life is a respect towards nature. Plants, animals and water give us the three things essential to sustaining life, oxygen, food, and hydration. Without any one of these things, humans would cease to exist. And that doesn’t even count the ozone layer that keeps us from being cooked alive by radiation. If we do not respect the earth, then our children and grandchildren will have an even harder time repairing the earth than we did.

The last section of the code states that “respect towards this code cannot result in an immoral action”. This means that a person cannot violate the Code and then claim that they violated the Code because they were respecting another section of the Code.

Example:

If a military officer orders one of his or her subordinate soldiers to kill an enemy soldier (and thus violate the first section of the Code) during a declared time of war, then the soldier must do what his or her superior says. Otherwise the subordinate soldier would be violating the sixth section of the Code. If the same direction was given during peacetime, the soldier would have the right to object because the superior officer is requesting that the soldier violate the first section of the code, which, along with sections two, three, and four, are of higher importance than the remaining sections of the Code.

In closing, I would like to wish my fellow Scientians long, healthy and happy lives. May our society thrive for millennia to come.

Regards,

C Leitans