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Many wanted the position of Village Chief. However, only Kingfisher and Hawk emerged as the strongest candidates. Kingfisher received the majority of trust thanks to his moral lectures that sounded very pleasant. Hawk also got some support because Hawk often tended to use violence and threats …. Kingfisher wanted to be the Village Chief based on his intelligence … . Kingfisher's wise calculations led him to think that in this peaceful and prosperous era, a moral-sounding and populist philosophy would help him gain the votes. He decided that would be a “kindness policy”. He would manage the Bird Village with “kindness” if he won the election. (“Kindness Policy” in Wild Wise Weird, Vuong [2025])
As of mid-2025, the world is entering a period of nuclear instability unprecedented since the Cold War. The collapse of key arms control agreements, such as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty (Kimball, 2019), and the looming expiration of New START have significantly weakened global safeguards (Liang et al., 2025). Russia's withdrawal from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) (Richard, 2024), alongside the United States's consideration of space-based missile defence systems like “Golden Dome” (Debusmann, 2025), has raised serious concerns about the weaponization of outer space. At the same time, a quiet but accelerating nuclear arms race is unfolding: the United Kingdom is debating rearming fighter jets with nuclear weapons (Langford, 2025), Iran is enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade levels (Liechtenstein, 2025), and China is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal (Bureau, 2025). In this situation, questions arise: Are we controlling Prometheus's fire wisely, or have we let it control us? Have we begun to worship the power of world-wide immolation in place of harmony, relationship and reverence for life? In a time of escalating unpredictability, how can both individual and collective psyches find a way to process and transform the fear of death,