"Back then the adults would tell us there was a time when 300 million people prayed to one flag and were ruled by one government. I've traveled all across this land and seen a great many states and cultures, and each and every one of them has been different from the rest. Even these small kingdoms are mere fabric s t r e t c h e d over clusters of smaller societies within smaller societies within smaller societies. each a beautiful little snowflake clinging to the skeleton of some dead empire I have never known. They shift, they multiply, they s t r e t c h  across thousands of kilometers or fit within a single room. Every single one of them boils with conflict, both within themselves and between each other. The adults spoke of a united states. Never once have I seen anything that would lead me to believe there was a time when an entire nation was unified."

- Jezzy