download the app to track your moral grayness and receive wellness updates
Item #: SCP-8349
Object Class: Thaumiel
Special Containment Procedures: 2019-11-03 All personnel are encouraged to become familiar with SCP-8349 and recite it as necessary in the course of their duties.
Description: SCP-8349 is a set of five rhyming couplets written in English. SCP-8349 has been known to members of the Foundation since at least 19██, traditionally having been passed between personnel orally.
SCP-8349 has two anomalous effects: firstly, it cannot be forgotten naturally, and can only be erased with appropriate amnestic treatment. Secondly, upon verbal recitation, the speaker will experience a noticeable reduction in anxiety and empathy, as well as a strengthened concern with the "greater good". This effect lasts for about thirty-five minutes; if it is repeated on a regular basis, it can result in permanent improvement of the subject's mood and outlook.
Testing has shown that regular usage of SCP-8349 results in heightened job satisfaction and better overall health outcomes.1 These results are more pronounced among personnel whose duties are particularly difficult, either practically or morally. SCP-8349 can extend the career of these personnel by an average of three years when used in conjunction with standard mindfulness techniques.
SCP-8349's effects are only anomalous in Foundation personnel — unaffiliated parties report that it is memorable and calming, but not unusually so. While this suggests that SCP-8349 was created by or for the Foundation, no references to its development have been found.
Appendix 8349-A: Text of SCP-8349.
Departed subjects, sacrificed
Abnormal feelings, felt not twice
And though they suffered yesterday
Today, I see the shades of gray
When humankind is on the brink
The strange and singular must shrink
And if the world says we've no right
They'll say so, living in the light
I hold this maxim, no regret
I must secure, contain, protect