The greatest civilization

--> Once upon a time, there was a great civilization.  Greatness really is an objective word though, isn't it?  Come to think of it, so is civilization.
This civilization had deep roots in altruistic moral values.  At least it thought it did.  So much time had passed it was very uncertain what those values were.  It aspired to offer everything good. Everything one could ever dream of: liberty, justice, health and wealth.  It educated its populace, it desired to spread its wealth and good fortune to the ends of the earth.

While it was built on these principles and ideals, the reality turned out to be much different on the ground.  These principles, while good intentioned, were simply not based on the reality of human nature.  Although humans are certainly capable of overcoming greed, hatred and ignorance with mindful practice, (and they were successful in this for quite some time!) this practice became increasingly hard to manage as the civilization expanded and people attained power.  Generally and over time, the most greedy, ignorant and hateful people tended to amass power, since their nature demanded it, and that led to a whole decomposition of the structure and ultimately the civilization itself.  All of the original ideals and values were turned completely on their heads, defiled and rejected, in exchange for individual gain. . .which obviously didn't work out.

And the soothsayers, artists and knowledgeable people who had not given up on the original values, were cast out for 'striking fear in the hearts of the populace', 'inciting mischief' and 'revolutionary politics'.  They were increasingly shamed to the point that many people found them mad.

And when all of those rascally rebels had been silenced (except maybe one or two) and control was restored, then the real fun began.

You see, while those in control were busy gaining control from all of the people, and shutting up those who opposed, they forgot that their existence depended on people, as did everyone else's.  Not only on people, even more so on the environment; an integral part of every civilization. Unfortunately, technology and industry had come to dispossess and destroy those other necessary parts.  Which meant that everything else was going down too.

And so, as the climate changed and the crops that had sustained the civilization for so long, failed, and the storms that had never caused irreparable damage before began to destroy even the most stable of structures, the people fled in droves out of their homes and out of the civilization in search of survival.
Of course only a few survived. Most perished due to hunger, thirst or dangerous conditions.  People panicked and would fight to the death over a mere rat or lizard.  There were no longer any authorities to stop them and the idea of community had been so corrupted by the past rulers that working together to solve any problems was impossible.

And so they wandered and eventually, after much hardship, they settled. They made new languages mixed with those who settled close by.  It was originally so hard to communicate that people resorted to carving and drawing on walls to get their ideas across.  People found, over time, that they could understand so much more without the complexities that had existed in their previous civilizations.  The languages were much simpler with less words to communicate.  The stars and cycles of the moon provided wonderful maps and time keeping.  They began to understand the essence of the cosmos through their lack of material possessions.  They had been out of control in their civilization and it was becoming more and more apparent everyday.  They decided, collectively, and with what little language they had, to attempt to live a different way.

From this understanding, they would build a great civilization.  It would be based in altruistic moral values because that is the only way in which a civilization can survive.  And, while not swaying from these values, it would offer everything one could ever dream of, liberty, justice, health and wealth.  It will educate its populace on these basics, and it will desire to spread its wealth and good fortune to the ends of the earth.