The Watchers

Only people like me understand how fascinating humans are. Only people like me understand what it's like to watch them learn and grow in a period of time. To see how they react; to see their emotions from another point of view.

Most likely if you are human, you do not have the slightest clue of what I am talking about. My name is Meyon Clray. My human name is Atris. For how long, I don't know. I have been called many names, of many languages, at numerous times. They are all irrelevant to me. Their purpose is only to keep a cover. To help me play parts. Different parts. Parts that have been woven inside and endless play. When it will end, if it will end, I will never know. I have learned to stop wondering and to stop asking questions. It's less complicated that way; just because there aren't too many answers to begin with.

Earth is what my people, the survivors, call their "adopted home". I don't recollect much about my first home; a green plant called Reera. I was young then. To young to possess the knowledge of what my future held. I remember that we had many moons. I recall five, and while I have long since forgotten their names, I know that the smallest ones were purple and the two biggest ones were blue. I remember that there were only about a hundred different animals. The water was thicker, the grass was blue and. that's about it. I can't even recall things about my parents. My memory of their physical features and characteristics, as well as personality traits, disappeared a long time ago. I have had so many parents overtime on Earth. They all run together. I guess somewhere along the way I got baffled and confused. I do remember my mother's smell. She always smelt like kaja since that was her favorite thing to eat. Kaja smells a lot like peppermint. Perhaps that is why peppermint is one of my favorite foods.

Humans remind me a lot of my people, the Reerans. There were two types of Reerans- the Libraians and the Sciaunces. My parents were Libraians, people who did not harm, who mastered the art like poetry, painting, sculptures, music, dance, etc. They loved to be happy and were generally peaceful people. They were the exact opposite of the Sciaunces, the people who fought wars, improved our technology, made our space ships and weapons, and invented things. Since the beginning of time they have never gotten along- always fighting, arguing, and threatening. One day it got out of hand. The quarreling surged into a whole new level. War.

It was very clear of who would win the battle. So as a result, the Libraians stole a ship. A Lekre space shape. A watcher space ship. A space ship that guarded or planet from alien enemies. With the stolen ship they assembled all of their children and put them aboard before sending them off to safety. I scarcely remember what happened on the ship. I know that it was cold and the days long. Our biggest complication was not boredom, not food, not trying to live normally on a boat. Those things would drive people insane, but those things were not the cause of our loss of sanity for a short time. It was the question. the wonder of what had happened to our parents, of what would happen to us, if things would ever be the same one day, and if not, would we be able to adjust to our new life. We didn't know if we were going to ever have a peaceful life, a happy life, a fun life. we wondered if we would ever have a Libraian life, ever again. The ship was programmed to take us to a planet where we could blend in and survive. It took years, ten Earth years to be exact, until we finally found a place just as were about to run out of food.

We watched Earth from the atmosphere for a while, studied our new home. Earth had many languages that we had to understand. Physically, humans were a lot like us. The only noticeable differences were that humans seemed to heal slower. Cuts healed instantly for us, and limbs no longer than a week. The biggest problem was that we lived a lot longer than humans. With technology taken from the ship, we learned to create sophisticated holograms that would allow us to bleed when needed and to die when needed. Once we died, we could start a new life, but it was very important that it be with a different culture. At first we were upset to learn that humans were extremely primitive. However, we realized that maybe it was a good thing. After all, the reason we were not primitive was because of the Sciaunces, but they had forced us to leave in the first place. The humans ate plants and meat. We being Reerans, were used to eating plants, but never other animals. We knew that if we were to pass as humans, we would have to do it, and it didn't affect our body in any way. I don't know what year it was when we first came to Earth, I just know that my first life was that of a servant of Julius Caesar.

The oldest of us decided that since we were starting a new life, with new people, we needed a new name. We arrived on a Lekre ship. A watcher ship. So that's what we called ourselves, The Watchers. Not just because Lekre meant watcher, but because watching was exactly what we did.

We were told to try to fit it as much as possible, and not to stand out, or change the human's course of life in any way. However, my friend Dominis Xraille, did not listen and became what the humans know today as Cleopatra. She still gloats whenever someone brings up how beautiful Cleopatra is. I met some really impressive people. I feel bad that Abraham Lincoln's speeches were never appreciated until after his death, they were brilliant. Then there were people like Beethoven. The Libraians would have wept when listening to his music. Horrible man he was, though.

Humans are not as primitive as they seem. I don't remember when the Reerans developed their first mode of transportation, but I do know that it was at least a thousand years before we built our first flying air craft. Humans discovered radio activity in 1896. Forty nine years later in 1903 they flew for the first time. Sixty nine years later they landed on their moon. This is all amazing; especially when you remember that this is the same species that once thought the sun orbited their planet.

Reerans are a lot like humans because they are split up into two different categories. Some people want peace and other don't care for it. Being a Watcher, watching is what I have done for a long time. I think the hardest thing of all was just watching. Not saying anything. Not showing humans the error of their ways. Being a child of Libraians, it is understandable for me to hate fights and crave for peace. However, in some circumstances, that was not the only case. In the beginning humans fought over things such as land. I once had a human father who was in the Roman Army and it made me sick to my stomach to think that someone I cared for was going to kill another life because of his judgment. Humans always seemed to judge one another. While in Rome I was horrified to learnt hat they forced criminals to become gladiators and that for the,, all the killing was a source of entertainment. When I made it over to America I found out that they captured Africans and forced them into eternal labor. To this day I am proud to say that I have helped many of them escape. The Holocaust still awakens me from my sleep. I have never met Adolph Hilter, and I don't regret it. I do regret not getting to meet the brilliant Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who helped African Americans when they were unfairly discriminated because of their color.

I sat back and watched all of this. All of the destruction and evil wrapped around my head, leaving me unable to think of anything else. It left me with unanswered questions that I repeatedly asked myself. How could anyone do this? How can they not feel each other's pain? How can they not feel guilty? When will the day come when I don't have to watch this anymore? I came to the conclusion that even though humans were impressive, they were worthy of hatred. I never hated anyone, not even the Sciaunces, it was not the Libraians way. However, years of seeing others bleed inside and out hand changed me. I knew that by admitting my hatred of humans, I was admitting that I was becoming one of them, and I hated them more. I was so stuck on my hatred that I did not expect it to change but it did.

I was in America at the time. I even watched the Twin Tower go down on TV. I was shocked, but all the years of posing as a human made it null it down. I felt sorry for America, and I didn't know what to expect. I did not expect for all the fire fighters and rescue men to rush to help their fellow humans as quickly as they did. I did not expect for people to help other with money, food, and clothes. I did not expect for entertainers to make it their mission to honor the dead. I did not expect for the world to pull together and forget their differences. I did not expect the world to erupt with love.

It was then I realized that even though I had spent almost my entire life living as a human, I still knew nothing. They still surprised me. All the Watchers were surprised. The humans made us see hope.

I think that maybe if the Libraians had hoped and pulled together, they wouldn't have had to send us away. As I look at the humans, my adopted people, I know that this is where I belong. The Watchers realized that even though we considered ourselves high and mighty from the human race, we still had a lot to learn. I no longer hate the humans, and in fact, I am very envious. I no longer dread on the fact of knowing that my job is to watch. I am granted the blessing to watch a wonderful species grow and continue to learn. I think that someday, other species will see how great humans are and learn from them too. Until then, the Watchers will continue to do their job. So, if you're reading this, I challenge you to change the world. I challenge you to make it a better place. Try in what the Reerans failed at because..

We'll be watching.