First Story
The title of the story Li told was interesting, filled with lessons. It was titled " Back to Basics" Li narrated the story of
"A faraway kingdom, were the king was convinced by a group of research scientists that said in other to keep the people sickness free and healthy. The citizens should only eat food that they had developed scientifically. This technology which could determine the nutrient and the quantity of food and nutrient a person needs and how often it was needed in other to maintain good health. Even the crops and plants used for the production of this special supposedly diseases free food was scientifically enhanced. It was discussed and lots of opinion were expressed. A few citizens insisted they should be given the freedom to plant their natural crops and eat the natural foods as they saw fit, and they requested they should be given some portion of land to live and carry on with their lives independent of the scientifically enhanced food program. With the approval of the king and his council, those opposed to the program moved to the forest in the far recess of the kingdom while the larger part of the population practiced the scientifically enhanced food program for many years. Among those who didn't approve was the second son of the king, but the king and the entire council ignored him. The prince and a few others, including a brilliant professor who were convinced that nothing good would come out of this scientifically enhanced food system, vacated the city and went in to the far recess of the kingdom were they lived normal lives, eating natural foods grown without chemicals. The entire kingdom named them rebels. Many years down the line. The king died, and his first son took over as king. As time went on, it was discovered by an insignificant few medical personnel that although the technology had almost removed illness, the mortality rate has gone up and life expectancy has reduced because, the nutrient found in naturally grown foods was grossly lacking in the genetically modified foods. The citizens became weaker, and they aged faster. The scientists in charge of the scientifically enhanced food program did everything to hide the truth of the situation from the king and his council, but there came a time when the truth of the situation could not be hidden any more and it came to the notice of the king. The king ordered the scientists to urgently find a solution to the problem. Meanwhile, the king secretly employed the services of a scientist who was originally opposed to the genetically engineered food program. He was also among those that left the city with the prince, the second son of the then king, when the program was enforced. The king asked him to secretly investigate the condition and come up with a solution as urgently as possible. Few days later, he secretly presented his initial findings to the king. On reading the report, the king realized how wrong and blind his father, the late king and his council had been, and he also realized how myopic he had been. He had another meeting with the scientist to quickly find a solution to the situation. The scientist promised to do his best, but he also told the king that to reverse the effects of a long time abuse of the body system also took a long time to heal. Days went in to weeks and weeks went in to months. Nothing was forthcoming from the royal scientists, and the situation was getting critical. Many people were dying with no sickness. Many of the citizens and the scientists were helpless because they had originally cleared all the natural forest, bushes and plants in the kingdom in other to cultivate their scientifically enhanced plants. Now that the program had failed and people were dying, they needed to admit that they were wrong and that they had failed, and maybe go back to nature and start the cultivation of natural foods in other to save the lives of the citizens. Instead of taking such a redeeming action, they began blaming the people for not strictly following the recommended rations of the scientifically enhanced foods, so the situation got worse. But much to the amazement of the king and his council, the person who found a cure was a professor who had been kicked out of the University and was forced to live in the forest outside the city for openly opposing the scientifically enhanced food program during the time of the previous King. Unfortunately, by the time the scientist found the cure, many people in the kingdom were dead or dying. But with the help of the prince who had opposed the scientifically enhanced food program in the first instance, and the people that habited the natural forest and the natural foods they brought and the cure from the banished professor, many of the citizens were cured and saved. After the kingdom had been saved, the technology was destroyed, the king stepped down for his younger brother, who had foreseen the catastrophe. The so-called rebel village was reunited with the rest of the kingdom again,".