The Unusual Suspects Book 2

Tony

I was sitting in class listening to the argument going around the room. There was a debate going on in our Journalism class. The topics in here sometimes would make the whole class be on edge. Especially when race matters arose, but I loved hearing the diversity of opinions. My teacher was pushing my to at least consider a minor in journalism because of my arguments and how I delivered. I had given it some thought, but I think it would make everything less enjoyable if it became something that I absolutely had to do. Perception was crazy though. "What do you think Mr. Rodriguez?" the teacher asked me, which snapped me right out of my little trance for a moment. I sat up to respond.
"I mean, it's basic economics in the end. Buy low, sell high. Being a drug dealer is like the epitome of being an entrepreneur." I said.
"Do you hear yourself?" Amy interjected as I smiled at her disgust.
"Hear me out, they're providing a product to a person. There you have supply and demand. The thing is, you're supplying them with something they don't need and depending upon the quality, you may have a guaranteed customer every trip. I'm not saying glorify drug dealing, by any means. But you have to respect their hustle. That's like selling salt to a slug or air to a fish. How do you convince someone that they need something that could potentially lead to their demise? That's ingenuous."
"Now we have a debate going on." Mrs. Dell said.
"Please! That's not sales that's shiest." Amy said proudly.
"Okay, but are you frowning upon Apple? Nope, because you have the latest iPhone. They keep messing with your head each time they drop a new phone, they make you feel like you need it. It has the same features as the last phone just possibly a slightly better camera and maybe a better battery life. So is that sales or shiest?" she looked at me and didn't utter a word. "Exactly, we don't need cellphones, we want them. So what's the difference between them and a dealer? Legal and illegal. It's simple to become an entrepreneur though, like I said basic economics. You find the market you want to target, produce a service and/or a product and your revenue minus expenses will equal your profit. Some people believe that only drugs are the frowned upon products, but technology can surely be a deeper addiction. Now tweet that." I said. In that instance Mrs. Dell had a smile that crept up on her face and Amy sat back in her chair.
"I agree with Anthony, it is basic economics. And also Nature Vs Nurture as well. I mean if we lived in Amsterdam all of this would be completely acceptable. Time and position can change an awful lot on perception." Miguel said to further prove my point.
"But isn't that a rationale for wrong-doings though? I mean yall sit here and speak of drug dealing as if that is what this country is built off of." Amy said.
"There's no way to make that rational. What I'm merely saying is when Ant said it was basic economics and then used Apple as a comparison, you got quiet because you then understood an addiction. So let's rephrase. So, you're walking through the Mall with your girls and you stop at Sephora and go crazy. They make it look appealing to you and hey that's where your girls go too. So now you spend about $200 on products that you don't actually need because you're already blessed in the looks department. Furthermore, after the money is spent then you have to spend at least an additional 30 minutes per day to perfect that before you even leave the house when you were perfectly fine before you began to paint your face. Speaking on addiction, then you post the pictures on social media for likes. Now...does drug dealing seem so offensive to you? Or can you equate that to your own vanity?" Miguel said. Mrs. Dell began to clap her hands.
"Well looks like Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Alvarez have made some great points. Any objections?" she asked the room.
"Well from an ethics standpoint, I could argue certainly. So to go back to the premise, drug dealing is the epitome of the entrepreneurial spirit, indeed. But the purpose wouldn't be to stop hustling, it would be to simply change your hustle. The same effort can be put into something positive. For example, you could clearly travel outside of the city limits and purchase fresh fruit. Bring it to the inner-city areas that lack that and then offer it to those who don't have access. Supply and demand, right?" Kemara said to help Amy out.
"By whose standard of ethics? Ethically speaking, if you are able to travel outside the city to bring them something they are lacking, shouldn't it be given away instead of sold? So you're supplying them with something they don't have and in order to make a profit you have to overcharge them. I don't think that wins an ethics battle." I said just as the bell rang. We all started grabbing our things to leave out after that. Toya was standing there waiting for me as I came out of the classroom.
"How was that?" she asked me.
"We had a great debate in there." I said.
"You should've took up law with the way you like to argue." she said and we both laughed at that one. I couldn't go into law, I'd get all the guilty people off. I knew I was blessed with the gift of gab so why go into it like that? It sounded interesting but realistically, I knew better than that. We got to Chemistry and went ahead and sat down.
"Did yall study for this exam?" Iris said as she came and sat down on the side of Toya.
"You know we did, we got this. You good?" I asked her and she laughed.
"I don't study, I get worse grades that way. Chuckie is the one, he studies for every damn thing. Way too hard." she said as he walked in and sat down too. Then Jay came in looking like he was drunk yet again.
"Well we know who's not ready for this." Iris said as we all looked his way.