Guidance

When you were young, things were a lot simpler. The others developed at a smooth, even pace. Their reach extended with caution born from the slightest of scrapes and bruises along the way. But you bled fiercely. We watched and helped only occasionally when the world tried to take you away from us. You needed to be independent, to be strong. But you were so reckless. When we noticed that you were growing fast and heedless of your mistakes, threatened to steal yourself from our care, we intervened. We nurtured you, and you became much more clever than you were, not cautious but singularly self-aware. You are unique among all the intelligent species in the universe, cultivated over only a few generations to be something more in all those before it combined. A frenetic, insatiable curiosity now combined with a quick and deliberate intelligence.