Disclaimer: these stories are a work of fiction.
A tenth of your time.
One day out of ten.
Or, one week out of ten.
Or, one month out of ten.
Some people are super organized and put their Tithe Day on their calendar and show up at the Temple for their Tithe every tenth day, on the dot.
And if you’re not quite so organized, that’s OK.
If say you show up at Temple three days late, all that means is that your next Tithe day will be six days later instead of nine.
One day out of ten.
And if perhaps you manage to show up nine days late and owe a second Tithe day, then you’ll be at the Temple for two days.
One day out of ten. Two days out of twenty.
If you were so irresponsible as to avoid giving your Tithe for nine months, then, well, you’ll be at the temple for a month.
One day out of then. One month out of ten.
A tenth of your time, however you want to split it up.
There’s no legal obligation for you to surrender to the Tithe.
You won’t be arrested, prosecuted, fined, or jailed.
It’s your choice.
And yet…
If you don’t…
If you put it off for too long…
You may find that your friends become a little… distant.
They surrender to the Tithe. Everyone does. Why don’t… you?
After all, no one has to be friends with you.
You can find other friends, who don’t mind that you don’t do your part.
If you can find any.
You go to buy groceries…
And, look, running a grocery store is a lot of work. Stocking the shelves. Placing orders. Washing the floors. Dealing with banks. Running the cash registers.
Work which, yes, they’re usually willing to do, but they don’t have to work for you. They’re not slaves.
You can find some other grocery store, one that doesn’t mind working long hours for someone who has chosen to ostracize themselves from society.
If you can find one.
Your employer restructures, adding some jobs and removing others... and, sadly, there is no new job for you.
No one has to provide you with a job. No one has to work with you.
With no money, you seek a loan, and your request is declined. Banks aren’t obligated to loan you money.
You go to your landlord to renew your lease... and, sorry, your unit is no longer available.
No one has to provide you with a place to live.
Apostate. Turncoat.
No one is mean to you. At least, no one should be. That would be rude, inconsiderate. Most people feel... pity. And, to be honest, thinly disguised disgust. They’re polite, but want nothing to do with you.
You can leave, of course.
No one will stop you.
You’re not a prisoner here.
Go out into the wide, endless desert.
Search for an oasis with a trickle of brackish water.
Fight off the scavengers for whatever scraps of food you can find.
Watch the vultures circling above you.
Or, you can choose! Choose to be a part of society. Choose to join the Tithe, like everyone else does.
And people will say, “Oh, thank goodness. It was just a phase.”
And so, if you wish, if you choose, if you decide, you can go to the Temple.
Surrender to the Tithe.
You’ll be bound, blindfolded, gagged.
For however many days that you owe.
And, perhaps, for the time of your Tithe, you’ll be left entirely alone.
You might be excruciatingly bored. Desperate for something, anything to happen.
But you can’t make anything happen. Or even ask. Or even beg.
Bound, gagged, helpless, you have no choice.
Or, perhaps, you might be tortured. Torture that involves pain, yes, but no physical harm.
Which you’d do anything, give anything, promise anything to escape.
And yet not be able to escape.
You might be ravished.
Experience unbearable pleasure without release.
You might be tickled, hypnotized, starved, cuddled, spanked, kissed, loved.
Anything at all might happen to you.
You don’t know what will happen to you.
You have no choice about what will happen to you.
Yet you do of course have a choice about whether you decide to surrender to the Tithe. You can choose not to.
There’s no legal obligation for you to surrender to the Tithe.
You won’t be arrested, prosecuted, fined, or jailed.
It’s completely your own choice.
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