Editing The Dystopians/Flora's Confessions

====June 17th 2121====

Mom gifted me this jewel-encrusted notebook for my 16th birthday last week so that I could practice my cursive writing. Perfecting the letters of the alphabet got boring really fast so I decided to write about my life. It feels a little bit weird talking about my own ideas, ill have to double-check with my professors to make sure that this is allowed. At school were not allowed to write about ideas that aren't approved by the teachers first. We have to make sure that our ideas are factually correct, so we often carry our textbooks with us, even when we go out to parties. And let me be clear when I say “we” I'm talking about the people that are actually important in our society; the people living in the center. I find it so difficult to hang out with outer-edge people anymore, every year the panic grows and they bring so much stress into our world. It's like they don't trust the system that our glorious government has set up. I guess fear makes people lose faith, but it's still unpatriotic, and I can't have that mindset around me. It's such a negative influence! After all, I am the future of our society here at the top. I come from a highly influential family; my dad is a politician and my mom is a socialite. Scientists are predicting that our family estate will remain for another 17 years, which means that I have the responsibility of filling my parent's shoes and maintaining the structure of our world. I'm not gonna lie, it is a lot of pressure, which is why I study extra hard and make sure to keep up with politics and current social events. My biggest fear is not knowing enough about our wonderful government and accidentally thinking the wrong things. 

====June 29th 2121====

Our school hosted the most wonderful graduation party last night, and students from all grades got to attend. It wasn’t my first time drinking out of a crystal champagne fountain (my parents usually turn theirs on for their weekly dinner parties) but it was my first time drinking way too much. The champagne paired so nicely with the aged cheeses and caviar, I couldn't help but drink four glasses. The party was a lot of fun, spent 5 hours listening to speeches from prominent political figures. Their speeches reinforced all the ideas we have been learning about since school started; leadership, maintaining the power dynamic of society, and the different roles in society. I found this party to be really inspiring and it really gave me a hopeful outlook on the future. We have such a successful system of power, and we have been able to survive on this island for so long due to this smart societal management. Despite the crisis of our shrinking island, society will be fine as long as everyone does their job. The workers need to work, and the leaders need to lead. But I get this strange feeling that not everyone is respecting our political institution. I saw a group of kids whispering during the governor's speech. It was as if they didn’t care about a thing he was saying. I don’t understand how they could be so ignorant, they must live near the outer edge to care so little. 

====July 4th 2121====

Yesterday night, on my way home from the salon I encountered the strangest thing. I saw a group of students from my school, the same ones that were talking during the governor's speech, gathered in front of city hall. One of the girls was carrying a large, overstuffed, leopard skin bag, it caught my attention because it totally clashed with her outfit, and was completely inappropriate attire to wear in such a political part of the city. When she saw me walk by she immediately dropped the bag and the group stopped talking and circled the bag almost as if they were trying to conceal it from my view. It was so weird, ladies should never put their purses on the floor, and the polite thing to do is at least wave to someone you know. Here on the island, we are civilized people, this is not proper social etiquette. Ugh, I swear I'm gonna be running society all by myself one day. 


====July 5th 2121====

Today I woke up to the most horrifying news. Someone left an illegal copy of a book in front of city hall. The title of the book was not released to the public, for safety concerns, but my parents told me the book was about the Philosophy of Rene Descartes. According to my father, Descartes' ideas are threatening to the foundations of our society as they inspired many political uprisings in the past. We don’t talk much about the past history of the world, and I am surprised that my father knows so much. We have been taught in school not to ask questions about what the world was like before, and that being good citizens required us to spend our time thinking about how we can continue to rule our current society. I don't understand why anyone would want to read such books and oppose our glorious government. After all, it is the leadership of our government that has allowed us to live such comfortable lives for all these years, people should be more grateful. My mother thinks that the book was purposely left there as a message to our leaders. I can’t help but question if it was my fellow classmates that I saw last night. The whole situation was so strange, and there was clearly something in that bag that they were trying to hide. If I report my suspicions they will immediately be arrested and taken for questioning. And if they’re found guilty…that would be the end for them. The government is clear about the fact that this island is too small to have political opposition taking up space. The kids are so young and I fear for them. But I also know that I have a duty to society as a future leader.