This year, there were several children in the music classes who we felt were not ready to perform at the Winterfest. Some were simply too inexperienced, but others failed to show a true commitment to the music. I think that in order to prove to all of us that we were in grave error, these children have joined together to form their own Concert Society.
My crime was that I grew old. You see, in the world Above people don't want to look at me, an old man, this unpleasant reminder of their future. I was to be cast away, hidden from the eyes of the young, who want to believe they'll live forever. In the world Above I lived too long. But here, Below, I've not lived long enough. So why am I here? To make memories, so that the last moments of my life may be as full of warmth and love as the very first moments of my life.
Home. Children. I help the children grow. I nurse them when they are sick. Teach them. I love all of them as if each one was my own. I lost my own. To lose a child is to lose everything. It was here that I found family again. The children are safe here. This is our safe place. I tell them it will be here for them always.
Trust. Continuity. A tradition of work and honor passed won from my father to me: a system of communication, a way in which we can always be connected. I continue what he began so many years ago, so that those who come after will remember him long after I am gone. I was born here. This is my birthright and my legacy.
My life Above was filled with disappointments and failures. Nothing good ever happened until I found this home beneath the city. I do what I do best, I cook. Feed people, and they appreciate me.
When my mother died, I went to the orphanage and people would come to adopt us. We would all line up and I would smile as they came by, hoping they would choose me. But they never did. But everyone wants me here. I don't cry anymore. I got chosen.
When I left the world Above, I was disillusioned, heartbroken. I had lost my faith. Here, it was that I learned to listen to my heart and heal my wounds. Here, I learned to believe again. Hopes and dreams created this fragile world. Pride and vigilance maintain it, and it survives only because it is separate and apart. It is a refuge, where the disillusioned regain their vision, where the lost become found. Where each one of us can explore the best of our being, the best of what it means to be...human and to be alive.
My very existence lies here within these tunnels. It is my salvation. I could not exist elsewhere. Without this place there is nothing for me. You must never, as long as you live, reveal what you have seen tonight. To do so would mean the end of life for all of us, and the end of our world. You bear the weight of a great responsibility, but it is also a great privilege. You will always have a safe place here should you need it. Now, you must go back to the world Above and carry our secret with you forever, in silence.
