The Necessary Evil

by Teresa Fuentes

I read a book

On the Incas last

Night:

It was

Specifically about

Spirituality.

I’d ended up reading it,

See, for various reasons:

One of those being that I’d been thinking

About a world in which there were no

Wars at all:

Or even a world that was at least decent

Enough as to not pull a “Star Wars”

Anymore,

And finally cease

to cheer when

Blowing up the suitably

“faceless,”

“nameless”

“Other”

During their

participation.

I don’t’ want to do it,

this conflict.

It makes me sick.

It makes me sick that

Others aren’t more sick

From it -

But the human world is always at

That nasty point:

That nasty point where it’s

Either “Protect yourself or be

wiped out:”

For no peaceful nation was

ever “strong” enough to live.

“Survival of the fittest,” they say-

The fitting slogan of a

Coward too afraid to preach causes

Other than when it’s convenient

For them, and only them:

Because trust me, I’ve read about

Hindus calling Muslims “barbarians.”

I’m aware of Christians calling Hindus “heathens,”

And I have personally experienced Christians

Wishing all the possible wraths of hell

Among themselves.

Trust me,

I don’t mean to idealize an entire culture:

For as the last stanza just proved,

That’s neither a realistic,

Nor responsible thing

To do.

But hey, do you know what was real,

And thus also realistic to think

And mull over the possibilities of?

The fact that

the Inca Empire

Was the only great civilization

(That I know of, anyway)

To ever build its majesty –

It’s buildings,

it’s temples,

it’s pure grandeur

and culture-

Without slavery.

The fact that

Starvation and homelessness

Was nonexistent

in Inca society;

For you see,

Even the everyday “peasant”

had clothes, enough food,

and sufficient water.

So,

if even just these few

“impossible” things are

actually possible….

What else is?

What bigger, greater

ideas am I missing here?

Realistically,

All this information

can only mean the Incas

Were and are up to certain

Somethings:

Some great thoughts of their

Own that I can certainly learn

From.

So…

What of their thoughts

concerning

The thinking and mulling,

The pure enduring

Of the dreaded

w-word?,

I wonder.

(Especially and specifically

those of the spiritual

variety?)

And so I read

to find out, and I saw that -

By combining lands as well as

A whole flurry of different religions,

They even have an entire

ceremony in the way

In which they choose to

Participate in this

Thing called

“necessary battle.”

How nice it must be,

I figure;

To be raised in a culture that

Survives not by glorifying,

But by abstaining from this instinctive

“othering” reflex we all have:

After all, for the community’s,

For the bigger picture’s sake-

Such a resort must always be the last:

After all, as Jimmy Carter so eloquently put it,

(Almost as if a peaceful, greater nature

Isn’t strictly Andean)-

“War may sometimes be a necessary evil.

But no matter how necessary, it is always

An evil.”

by Teresa Fuentes

A Letter to My Fellow Person

How do I do them justice?

I often wonder.

I want there to be Indigenous characters

in my stories. So many of them.

But I’m not Indigenous, see.

I’m another “minority,”

sure,

but this isn’t exactly a case

of potato-potatoe.

Heck,

lumping all of the world’s Indigenous

peoples into one large group isn’t a potato-

potatoe situation:

For

if that were the case,

I’d might as well simply refer to all

of the collective world as “humanity,”

and be done with the story:

But,

referring to something-

someone-

on so broad of a scope

isn’t exactly enough to specifically

click with anybody, now is it?

To evoke anything

uniquely special?

What’s next,

I’ll just go ahead and

and-

upon conducting one of the most skimpy,

shallow searches and understandings of Europe-

assume,

“Yep! Germany and France. They’re

the exact same thing”?

Assume

here and forever more,

“All these peoples are obviously shallow, pale

copy and paste imitations of each other”?

How about I go off to Spain while I’m

at it, and assume that-

because of their light skin,

they all must be –

and thus all be

unceremoniously called-

(Not named),

“Scots?”

Then,

just as people have to differentiate the

“Dot on the forehead,” and “feather” Indian

in even these modern days,

people would have no choice but to

have to differentiate between

the “bagpipe” Scots and “silver metal

helmet” Scots.

See,

I knew I’d been missing

something important;

something essential

in my point of view

as I wrote my Indigenous

characters:

For I recognize that I-

even with my own good intentions-

have grown to ignore Indigenous

peoples, too:

To simply know of them and never actually them;

to grow up and assume their “extinction”-

and thus be incredibly shocked

when I first find out they’re actually

residing , and still growing

all over the world.

Of course

I made sure to write all of

my characters as people,

not stereotypes regardless:

dynamic in thoughts, emotions,

ambitions-

But still:

how is it that I-

someone genuinely trying to help-

am still daring to be

the product of my environment?

It’s not technically my fault culturally,

being born into the society I was born into;

but now that I do know

the specifics of what I was born into,

it really would be my own fault if-

knowing what I know now-

I still had the nerve to go on

the same regardless.

So again,

I ask you:

With strands

of ignorance still

woven into my

being, and

frustratingly enmeshed

so intricately

into the very core of

my consciousness

like an old,

tangled fishing net-

How do I do you justice?

Surely a good ally could always be

of good use.

So, please:

as someone also familiar with

the existential choice of either

remaining invisible or

forcing visibility

onto crueler,

bigger powers-

at least someday, or eventually-

just overall planning

on never never

being seen-

and I mean truly

seen by anyone outside

of ourselves,

I ask you:

How can I help?

About the Poet:

Teresa Fuentes is a creative writing student who has been studying and practicing the craft since she was nine. She has thus far been published by “Chrysalis Magazine,” a literary journal of El Paso Community College. Aiming to increase representation of colored peoples tenfold in the pop culture world by creating both critically and commercially successful fantasy novels, her biggest dream is to become a New York Times Bestselling author. (And perhaps by then, she can even have the honor of collaborating with some of her current favorite creators, like Rick Riordan Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino, and Tahereh Mafi.) She loves traveling the world for inspiration (even if it’s only online for now), and literally couldn’t stop writing even if she wanted to. All in all, she seriously can’t believe that people these days genuinely think that the fantasy genre has explored every single idea and twist it possibly can up to this point in American history, what since European tropes and influences certainly aren’t the only inspirations a creator could ever stand to gain from out there.