“Knowing makes all the difference. Knowing that we’re not just pointless freaks – a few bewildered deviations hoping to save their own skins. It is the difference between just trying to keep alive, and having something to live for.” — The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham

Decided to reread this wonderful 1955 SF classic and I still cannot believe it was written so long ago when so much of it still rings true. It’s like X-men, but cooler ◟(๑•͈ᴗ•͈)◞

This novel is timeless in the way that it captures how horribly bigoted people were and still are. 65 years later, and there are people who think black skin is an aberration, who treat people with disabilities like they are subhuman, and who twist scripture to suit their own intolerant and self-righteous ideologies. “[T]he essential quality of living is change; change is evolution: and we are a part of it.” Wyndham seems to be suggesting that instead of eradicating difference to preserve the status quo (and to keep power centralised in the hands of a select few), we should embrace it and allow the human race to progress the way the we are designed to.