To rule the world

My dream to rule the world began when I was a young child with much smaller aims. I can vividly recall the start of my dream: Whilst taking a cross-country road trip with my family, I noticed that there was a gap between the “Now Leaving [blank] State” and “Welcome to [blank] State” signs. I asked my father who owned that bit of the country, and if no one did, can anyone claim it for their own. His reply was, essentially: “I don’t know, but I suppose someone could claim the land.” Which was, likely, a way to cease the line of questions for which curious young children are often known.

However, with Daddy’s answer, I began to think about the state I would start and the logistics of visiting people in your state if it was essentially a winding network of land, maybe 3-20 feet wide, around the nation.

As I grew up, I began to think of ways to trade that winding network off so that eventually I’d have a larger, more well-connected landmass to call “the State of Frances.” Thoughts of how I would govern my new state soon led to thoughts of how I would govern the nation if I were privileged enough to do so. As the years went on, I realized that there was no reason to stop there and I decided to go for total world domination.

By the time I was fully grown, I also realised that there was just no possible way for me to rule the world. And let’s face it, the world is better off as a connection of small nations with individual identities. Besides, would I really want the stress and pressure of ruling the entire world?

And so, my focus shifted on the creation of my own nation – a micronation that could survive in harmony with the rest of the world. In fact, thanks to the enthusiasm of some of my nieces and nephews, I even have the basic plans for the nation’s constitution all ready to go!

But, alas, I think I may need to recognise that this, too, would be a difficult thing to rule; mostly because I’ve yet to find anyone willing to be one of my citizens. So I guess I’ll just have to console myself with the knowledge that I am the ruler of my own life. Which is kind of like being the ruler of the world.

Of course, I still haven’t figured out exactly who owns the land in between border signs. Maybe I should create a Just Frances flag and see about claiming some of it for my own!