The Cartographer

Consider this situation.

There is a cartographer with the power to obliterate places from the physical world by erasing them from a map of Earth in his possession.* Topography dismissed from the world becomes a blank nothingness; a flat wasteland of paper-white with remnants of natural color and form where the eraser failed to fully eradicate existence.

When asked to consider this by one of my students I affirmed that it was an intriguing image but I wasn’t quite sure whether I was only to focus my imagining on seeing this situation, or remedying it. As a teacher you often try to suss out what the real question being asked might be.

Could I consider such a situation. Yes. Would I, or could I, do anything about it? No. I don’t pit myself against divinity: real or imagined.

*Note that I immediately associate an all-powerful figure with masculinity. The subconscious force of a Christian upbringing is very strong. . .