No. 553277 [Reply]
I was walking down the grocery store aisle, and stopped by the spice area for some turmeric, and noticed nutmeg. I rarely, if ever use nutmeg, but I felt this odd twinge of remorse. Not only did its price rival the turmeric I was in the store for, but it was probably less, and even still both the turmeric and the nutmeg was worth a pittance. This stuff used to control the world. Europeans struggled to sail thousands of miles on the rattiest ships to make landfall on the most remote parts of the world to find nutmeg. They were willing to die, conquer, and enslave for it (could you imagine risking death because you wanted to get slightly better tasting food?). The world's first and most powerful corporation in the world was born from it. The English, Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, French, etc. all competed heavily for it. It motivated the greatest race for empire, and colonialism in human history. It pushed human technology to its breaking point at a time when science and technology were hardly even proper concepts. And now it sits in little vials for less than $5 on a grocery store spice rack. It's like if you passed by Bill Gates on the street, only you found out he was penniless and a heroin addict. It was as if I could feel it scream, "Hear me, I used to be important once, I used to rule the world! I deserve so much more than this pitiful spice rack. I am a King, a God!" But there it sits, forgotten.
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