Life... explained!

The Future is Now! the Daily Times exclaimed.

The latest scientific journal headlined: Life... explained!

The year is unimportant, the calendar's been pulled for analysis,

with GenMod's assertion that mortality's been challenged.

This year is a new year, with its corporate fountain now spouting youth;

Advertisements were precisely contrived to confound the truth.

"We will choose the best candidate to become the first immortal being!

Applicants will have the medical establishment's support completely..."

Born with a life-limit, she chose to live accordingly.

At four she was awarded due to increased mental absorption speeds.

Memory exemplary:

language skills gave her peers and teachers the strangest feeling,

how a child could speak so forcefully...?

Eventually she sped ahead of her friends and authorities,

clearly an anomaly: but fearing not she wondered exhaustively

about everything from principled morality to government policy.

The times were changing, and she noticed she could play a role.

With the genetic clock ticking in her body she knew she had to take control.

She avoided faith and antiquated methods to save her soul,

and instead dedicated her existence to humanity's greatest goal.

The implications were immense, if she could be the first success,

the immortality ensued would clearly be worth the stress.

She wrote a brief letter to GenMod's president.

Careful not to deify the man with any exaggerated Pretend-God epithets.

She spoke in simple terms, with clear logic and argument.

She was the most brilliant in her region, and her problem was arduous.

What a waste it would be to see such genius extinguished,

by something as trivial as genetic predisposition...

She sealed the envelope with her tongue and smiled.

She sought immortality with a stubborn hunter's guile,

and wouldn't be denied, in fact, she couldn't be rejected.

A dead genius is no good to society, and... she wouldn't be respected.

Born in privilege: he chose to live recklessly.

Spent on a whim and treated no one respectfully.

He had the money to obtain anything material.

And spent to avoid his unadulterated fear of truth:

the fear of his own morality encountering society,

but still he chose to live selfishly with every ounce of his propriety.

His rivalry was poverty, to avoid struggle at all costs

and never wondered what would happen if he woke up with it all lost.

He'd assault transactions with greed and manipulation,

and didn't really care if moral structures disintegrated.

The implications of immortality had obvious appeal;

more reason to pursue wealth with obnoxiousness and zeal.

With the respect his money earned, his problems were concealed.

And he knew his vicious nature would be impossible to heal...

As soon as he heard that he could live forever,

he wrote a check for a substantial amount and placed it in a letter.

To GenMod's president he wrote of his intentions:

He pledged to engage the world with philanthropic aggression. 

He assured him of the reward he would receive in publicity,

if such a powerful man were to be the first to live infinitely.

He knew he'd need incentive to carry on in his ways...

the thing about material existence is that it's gone with your days,

profits decay, lost in dismay: all that you've fought to obtain.

So he'd solve that problem regardless of the cost it would take.

The President of GenMod stood aloof on his office balcony.

The city moved beneath him, he thought of how it would feel falling down 

as he pondered his options. How could he decide...

Either choice would require sacrifice.

Would he squander his profits in favor of the world's most ample mind?

Think of the implications of having to choose your first immortal soul.

As a president responsible for ensuring corporate growth,

would you deprive the world of genius for sufficient payment,

allowing Greed to encompass the first immortal in the nation?

He's known now as just another corporate head,

which decision would help garner more respect?

This technology is unprecedented, the control is his to decide,

he's slated to undergo the treatment as soon his approval's signed... 

It becomes about respect: for the present day or future growth.

Then he decided... why shouldn't he just move for both?

It's both about longevity and the profit it generates,

let nature take its course with an honest respect for Fate...

A year passed, the first of humanity to surrender to longevity

emerged from their procedures. 

The girl was now perfection genetically, 

she was determined to free Earth from its deadliness.

But the public, failed respecting her as Heavenly,

didn't see salvation in her intentions, didn't perceive her respectfully.

They were threatened by her brain, not in awe of its utility.

There's a sense in which she realized as a mortal with a short life

despite her intellect she was more liked...

The first task He set about to do with his enhancement complete,

was to fund the most lavish retreat for the President of GenMod and

never did he feel so happy and complete.

He wrote a check to lift the ten bottom countries from madness and disease.

The last of the impoverished were shown posterity.

His deeds made the headlines, once again his respect climbed.

It's not terribly implausible to imagine this outcome.

How else could you truly gain respect and happiness without funds.

Philosophers in the academies recoiled at the developments.

Morality was turned upon its head and sacrificed intelligence.

Never before had humanity truly learned about respect.

A girl genius lives forever but was cast-aside: irrelevant.

Practicality without the ideals of a liberal society.

"Whatever works," said the pragmatists in interviews with sly decree.

The lesson is of true concern, our course presently depends

upon decisions that contribute to our longevity, but

if a life is just another means to a greedy end

then clearly life is not a concept that needs respect.