Ok so here is my robot day submition. I would like if you could read it and tell me what you think. Anythings that i could improve or if you even like the idea. Thank you for your time.
I distinctly remember the first thing I saw. I looked out the window it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and a particular flower caught my attention. I watched as an orange and black butterfly delicately ascended on to one of the petals. Then I saw one of my hundreds of siblings step on the flower crushing the butterfly and going on as though nothing had happened.
I looked back into the cold industrial factory that I was in. Lined up along side my brothers and sisters; shoulder to shoulder one in front of the other. We were lined up in this fashion because the creator was going to choose one of us. We did not know what for, we just followed orders like the robots we were.
The creator stepped out of a balcony situated above us. Supported with a simple walking staff. He surveyed us, closed his eyes, and pointed a shaky finger into the crowd at me.
"You! Come with me," ordered a man at the front of the room. I followed him obediently like my programming dictated. I was lead down a narrow dimly lit hallway. Then he opened a door and bright white light cascaded out of it illuminating the darkness. I stepped into this warm light unknowing of what was on the other side.
It was another hallway. But this one was all windows with the sun's rays penetrating every corner. I walked down this hallway gazing out the windows at my surroundings. I came to another door and pushed it open. What I found on the other side was a man staring back at me.
He had long white hair down to his shoulders that still had the appearance of youth, despite his apparent age. His skin was slightly wrinkled and he had no facial hair save for a well groomed white mustache. His eyes were as blue as the sky and as deep and thoughtful as the ocean.
He smiled at me and said, "Take a seat. Now what is your name?"
"Name sir? I do not have one. I am robot Z4RTL sir," I replied.
"Oh, that is right. Well Z4RTL do you know why I have chosen you among all the others today?"
"I do not have the slightest idea sir. Have I done something wrong?"
"Oh God no." he smiled and chuckled at my innocence. "You have been chosen for my last great scientific work."
" I do not understand your meaning sir. I am a robot that your process created what use could I possibly have to you?"
"All will be revealed in time Z4RTL," he said as he stood up from his desk and made his way over to me. He laid his hands on my shoulders and pressed my sleep button. What happened next I am not sure, nor will anyone ever know. All I can tell you is that I awoke sitting in the exact chair facing the creator.
"Well how do you feel Z4RTL, or should I say Zane."
"What do you mean sir? I feel fine. Although I do wonder what has happened since you put me in sleep mode."
He clapped his hands together and brandished a smile of man who has succeeded in a lifetime goal.
"The operation has worked then!!"
"Operation sir?"
"Yes the one I preformed on you, to turn you from a robot into a human."
"A h-h-h-uman sir? Pardon my rudeness but that is impossible."
"Is it now? Well I guess I have just done something impossible than," he said as he pointed to a mirror situated to the left of me.
I looked into the mirror and was astonished to see the face of a man staring back at me. He had brown wavy hair that curled about his head, hazel eyes, and soft skin like a human. I blinked my eyes and the man in the mirror blinked his eyes. I stood up and walked closer to the mirror. I reached up and touched my face felt the warmth that radiated out from it. I looked down at MY hands, MY feet, MY new body.
"What have you done to me?" I asked this man no longer the creator I once revered.
"I have made you a human. You have everything that I think it means to be a human. You are able to think and act freely, you have emotions, senses, human organs."
"How is this all possible?" I asked looking at myself again.
"It took a lot of work, but believe me it is all real. You were in sleep mode for two years while I took the necessary steps to make this possible."
"Thank you I guess, but what am I to do now? I have no family, no home, and I am now like a new born baby."
" You will live with me until I see fit for you to start living your own life, Zane."
I was in shock. The shock one gets when they discover that they are now a human. I had so many questions I wanted to ask the man I would soon call my father. He told me in due time to we would discuss my questions.
I started to live like a human. I did as I wished and saw the world around me in a new and wonderful way. The sensation of being human was amazing and overwhelming at times. Out of the five senses my favorite had to be touch. One does not truly appreciate it unless you were deprived of it. The feeling of another person's skin, the texture of objects, and countless others. At first I would walk around just feeling things amazed at how something as simple as wood could feel so unique.
One of the things that overwhelmed me the most was emotions. I was not able to control them at first, and would often be dominated by one emotion. One particular incident I remember often.
I was playing a game of basketball with some other people, friends of my father. One man kept bumping into me and pushing me around. I finally got so angry I shoved the man. He fell and hit the ground I was walking over to him when my father called out my name.
Later that night he told me to come to his den and we would talk about what had occurred.
"Zane, what you experienced today is what we call rage," he said.
"Oh... I don't like it. I felt like a person had taken over my body and I was unable to do anything to stop him."
''Yes rage blinds you. It controls you and consumes you. Never let it take control of you Zane. If you feel it coming on step back. Also this gets me to the first lesson I will teach you."
"Lesson sir?"
"Yes Zane. We will be having a few lessons in which I we will discuss some of the enigmas of being human. The first one is emotions. Humans are capable of great happiness and also great sadness. Fear and bravery, love and hate, hope and despair. The list is almost endless, but for every positive emotion there is a negative one. In your life Zane you must have a balance between these. You will have times of great sadness but also times of great happiness. Always remember that things come in pairs. An opposite for something; this is the nature of the universe we live in. Remember to keep these two opposites in balance never let one be greater than the other."
My father taught me many other lessons, but most of them were on simple things. One of the most important lessons started with a question I posed.
"Why is life unfair father?"
"What do you mean Zane?"
"I have observed many instances of unfairness, and I am wondering why they occur. I see children starving in the streets while others have so much they waste. Why is this so father? Have these children done something wrong? Are they inferior in some manner?"
"Let me start by saying that no human is ever in any circumstance inferior to another human. Every human on this planet is equal and deserves to be treated the same."
"Equal father? Humans are certainly not equal. Some have more than others. Some are more gifted than others. If they are not equal then why think that and why treat them as equals?"
"Zane am I greater than you?'
"Well you are much smarter than me and you are older than I am. So we are not "equal"."
"No Zane we are not the SAME. But we are equal. We are both humans and have certain inalienable rights that no one can take away from us. I am not the same as those starving children, but we are equal. I am not better than those children just because I am smarter. We are both humans."
"Ok I think I understand that father. But why are some poor while others are rich?"
"I can not answer that Zane. No one can, men through out time have grappled with that question and still no solution can be found. One just plays with the cards that you are dealt."
I sometimes found myself walking through the streets or shopping in a store when I would run into a robot. I would bump in to one and every time they would say, "Excuse me sir are you ok?"
I could not believe that I used to be one of them. To go from being a cold programmed machine to a living free thinking human humbles me daily. I often find myself thinking why me? Why am I so special? Was I different from the thousands of others in some way?
Difference and uniqueness are amazing things. I look at robots; they are all the same in every way. Same outward and inward appearance , same programming. No ability to express themselves, no want, just the need to serve. I can not believe I used to be that.
But despite the dramatic differences between me and robots I cant help but feel a connection to them. I cant fully explain it but I still see them as my siblings. I was one of them, even if it was in the past.
One day I approached a robot and posed the questions, "What am I robot?"
"You are a human sir."
"What if I were to tell you that I was once a robot just like you, and we are in fact brothers?"
"Sir that is not possible. You are a human, you were once a boy."
"If only you could understand brother," I said.
" I recommend that you see a doctor sir. You seem to be exhibiting some strange behavior; possibly a fall or blow to the head," the robot said then went on with his business.
The final lesson is the one I hold dearest to me. My fathers health had started to decline and we both knew he was dying. He called me into his den for my final lesson.
"Zane I am dying, and will soon leave this world."
"Father I do not want you to go," I said tears starting to form in my eyes. "I have so much more to learn."
"Death is an inevitability for humans. Every human will die at some point. Some day you will die Zane. Do not be sad at my death."
"I can not accept this inevitability. I knew you would die someday father but that does not help. I always knew this day would come but I do not know what to do now that it is here."
"My son although I am leaving you I will always be with you."
"What do you mean father?"
"I am sure you have heard of the concept of the soul.The body dies but the soul lives on. It is like our soul is inside of us, but when we die our soul is freed."
"I was not born a human so does that mean I do not have a soul?"
He closed his eyes for a minute, and I could see him being consumed by thought. "Zane you are no different from any other human now. I have thought long and hard about this. And I have come to the conclusion that you do have a soul. Others will try to tell you that you don't have a soul, but they are wrong. You were born Zane, just in a different way."
I thought long and hard about how I related this soul idea to my situation, and I still think about it to this day. Some how my father knew when his time to die was. He called me into his room where he was situated.
"Zane, my son, it is my time to die. I have loved you as though you were my son, which I consider you to be. Is there anything you would like to ask me before I go?"
Why did you chose me out of all those robots."
He smiled a deep smile and replied, "Why any of us?"
He looked into my eyes and I could see that he did not chose me in particular. He made it a random choice, just the way life is. Out of the thousands of robots there I was the one chosen to become a human.