Tourniquet

Gwendolyn Anderson placed the last details of her makeup by adding the final touches of eyeliner. As she let out a deep breath, she looked down on the invitation to the event she was invited to. This was the biggest and most important event for the organization which Gwendolyn reviewed and researched on for the past six years since its start back in the turn of the century Those were perilous times for the faithful due to the turn in choices of certain media. Some truths are a necessity to remain a secret for it may change the world, but all truths have one destiny and that is to be revealed. The truths exposed during that year, just through the entertainment of fiction, was enough to cause a nation to rise, another nation to fall, and for everyone involved to question more than ever but always searching for more questions and never coming to an answer which would make sense. Now the world is in turbulence. People want to call it the End of Days but it really is just an exposure of the truth...the types of truths that were ill-fated to keep secret from the many that have faith as their primary base. Gwendolyn held herself in composure on physicality but her emotion was starting to expose her true nature towards certain things which happened like a string theory upon her sanity. A lonesome tear ran down the side of her beautiful face as she came to grips with it, but she knew that things weren’t ever going to be the same when it came to her faith. “Everything changes but it should be towards a direction of understanding,” Gwendolyn whispered to herself. Humanity did change as time went by and she remembered how she also took part in the source of the changes. It was one year before the changes begin and she had a strong belief in her faith. The sun was shining upon her like the caressing hands of caring. In many senses she felt caressed with the warmth of hope and happy to be alive for her choices she made have made her successful. Not just in life, but for life. People can be successful in life and not enjoy it, thus losing their appreciation for it. Gwendolyn was one of the few who were blessed to have success and the appreciation for it. During that time she was working for the best avionics company in the world using her degree for what she wanted to be: an engineer. She was on her lunch break when she was approached by a fellow co-worker who read multiple books like she did. He introduced her to the book that would start the changes in the world: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Even though the majority of the worldwide reading population read this book, the majority really isn’t an impact on the actual population. However, within those who read this book, some decided researching was far more important on matters that seemed to go against the views, or the implemented views, of billions of people worldwide. Out of the publication of the book—besides a lot of hatred and controversy among the Catholic Church and Christianity in general—came those who sought more of the truth from the novel. Multiple references were used in the novel and the people who searched for a deeper understanding of why Dan Brown did his research started yet again even with more initiative than to just write a book. Out of this uprising, a small contingent formed out of Harvard and soon they became to be known as the Harvard Agnostic Thinking Elite: a group of over one hundred agnostic students whom researched the major flaws in religion. They focused mainly on the most major religions such as Islam, Judaism, and of course Christianity and its many affiliates and dominations. Soon, their research spanning from the major name of Harvard started to make an impact on society. More and more people who read The Da Vinci Code were drawn to the enigmatic research and power towards agnosticism and their ways to research how religion is flawed. Many points from the infamous novel were researched, some proven true such as the Priory of Sion, Opus Dei, and the banned gospels that were rejected from the Bible. As more and more research was utilized and even brought through documentaries, more and more people have joined the Harvard Agnostic Thinking Elite. Despite their importance and strength, they were not the one group that really made a major impact on the modern society of today. Even though the novel was a major hit and came first, it was the movie based off of the novel that caused heads to turn and make people question like an agnostic. The airing of the movie was a very controversial airing for it was an excellent movie. But once again it caused people to question the church, question the claims of Catholicism, and the authenticity of the Bible. Questions such as power and greed in the Catholic Church were questioned far more now to the point that it was more of a threat instead of research. Because of the movie itself another elite group made from agnostic film producers formed out of Yale. This time, it had more of an impact because more people were able to relate to the movie since more people are willing to watch a movie than read a book. This group was then known as the Formalized Educated Agnostic Religion, thus establishing themselves as a religion of their own. Their motto was, “Proof before worship and worship without proof is heresy towards the truth”. The widespread hatred and praise of the movie caused the numbers of agnostics within this group to grow. As more and more people joined, showing more documentaries people actually watched more than reality television, the faithful begin to question then wane from their faith for this was tangible proof. Truth researched and proven real, just like Dan Brown’s research for writing his controversial novel. Within one year, because of both the Harvard Agnostic Thinking Elite and the Formalized Educated Agnostic Religion, over 50% of anyone who had religion turned against it. Due to their major destructive research into the Christian fallacies, they soon turned their eyes to affiliations of Christianity. Soon Islam was countered and attacked on all levels, for the religion itself is somewhat a sibling of Christianity, and both were the spawn of Judaism. As for Judaism, since it was actually the beginning of the major three religions in the world, it was assaulted by both the Harvard Agnostic Thinking Elite and the Formalized Educated Agnostic Religion as the beginning of the lies. All of this research, all of this change, caused by the publication of one novel and a movie based off that very novel. All of these events in the chain were due to just one little spark of questions and answers. Within three years of the movie, all religions were considered false and only a minority of people kept holding onto their faith. It may have been a minority of people but it still had a large number of people. Despite their differing views and beliefs, all the religions decided to unite together to protect their faith, their right to believe. Because of this movement, it brought new hope to those with faith, that they had a fighting chance. Their faith remained strong despite major blows such as the fall of the city of Mecca, the refusal of printing holy books such as the Bible or Koran. Even the fall of the Vatican was a major blow. But, still, the people of strong faith remained true due to their faith. This is what enlightened Gwendolyn. In many ways, she felt so bad she questioned her faith, but the major impact of both of those groups has even made her question faith. Now she felt like it was the one personal sin she would never be forgiven for.