Ball Planet
On Ball Planet, there are only two things for sale at the store: metal hoops, and wooden bats. That's because everyone on Ball Planet is born with a ball. A special ball that's all their own, no two perfectly alike. And with this ball they can play basketball, or they can play baseball. Only two games exist.
Some people on Ball Planet have bouncy orange balls with black stripes that are perfect for dribbling and throwing into hoops. Some people have small hard white balls with red stitches that are perfect for winding up and hitting with a bat.
But if they're on the basketball team, they can never play baseball, not even if they have a baseball, and not even for fun. And if they're on the baseball team, they can never play basketball. Not even of they're good at basketball, not even if they hate baseball. Of course, basketball players can only buy hoops, and baseball players only buy bats. That's all they sell on Ball Planet. And everyone buys one, but no one can buy both- how silly it would be to play both games!
There are so many people on Ball Planet, and everyone has a ball. Some people were born with basketballs. Some were born with baseballs. And some others were born with white-and-black balls meant for kicking, but not touching with their hands, and some were born with long oval brown balls meant for kicking and also touching with their hands, but those games don't exist. (And even if they did, people would argue about their names!) Everyone must play basketball or baseball.
The truth is, on Ball Planet, everyone's ball is special and unique just for themselves. There are people with very heavy balls with three holes perfect for holding with their fingers to toss and knock things down. There are people with tiny white balls with shallow dots all over, perfect for knocking into holes in the grass. There are people with bouncy fuzzy yellow balls, perfect for hitting with a net on a stick over a woven net. There are people with tiny, beautiful glass balls, perfect for flicking into other balls. But those games don't exist either.
There are even people with multiple balls to toss in the air to catch in fancy patterns. Even people with big rubbery balls for exercising with. Even people with weird balls made of plastic with a window on one side, and if that person was allowed to ask a question, shake their ball and look inside the window, they could find a silly answer inside. Even people with balls that have no discernible purpose at all, and maybe if they were allowed to invent something new to do, suddenly Ball Planet would be full of interesting, fun new games to play, and there would be so many different things to sell and buy, and everyone could be free to play with their balls in the way that makes them happiest and Ball Planet would be a great place to live.
But there are only two games on Ball Planet: basketball, and baseball. And they only sell two things on Ball Planet: metal hoops, and wooden bats. And it doesn't matter if basketball players want to play baseball, or if baseball players would rather play basketball. And it doesn't matter if the people who have strange, different, unique, special balls that aren't basketballs or baseballs don't want to play either sport at all. Everyone on Ball Planet is part of one of two teams, and everyone buys one of two things, and everyone plays one of two games.
That's how it's always been. That's how it will always be.
-
On Planet Earth, there are only two colors for sale at the store: pink and blue.