A War Not Won

"Are you happy?" He has smiling eyes and a fatherly grin as he speaks these words.

"Of course I'm happy. Why wouldn't I be? I have everything I could ever want."

"I don't know. I've heard the people from across the way talking about how not all the workers are here voluntarily."

"Why would it not be voluntary? We work for you and in exchange we get fed and can live. What about that is not voluntary?"

"I don't know. Some people say that having to trade yourself, your time, your effort, your life for basic necessities that everyone needs is ... well ... coercive."

"How could it be coercive. It's the way that everything works. It's what everyone does. It's what we've been doing for years."

"Just because it's the way things have been doesn't mean it's the way things must be."

"It's been the way things have been for such a long time though. Since as far back as civilization started. People sold themselves. People did what they had to do to make money. People ate." The younger man bends down to tie his shoes, shoes that were once handsome but has with the passage of time become old and worn.

"How do we know that this system is really as old as we say it is? How do we know that it's as old as civilization?"

"Because, sir, everyone says it is. Everyone says that it's been around forever. If it has indeed been around forever then why should we be going against it now?"

"Is civilization really as old as people say it is? There was something before civilization. Something that might have been better."

"Before civilization? Are you trying to say it was better before civilization? Now who on earth would believe that? We were barbarians back then, clinging to the very edges of existence in a hostile and bloody world."

"How do you know that?"

"Because, sir, everyone says so. Everyone believes so. This is common knowledge. And this is knowledge that abides with common sense."

"But have you ever thought of what the world before civilization must have been like?"

"The world before civilization? I have no time to think about such trivial fantasies. I have a life to live."

"And do you enjoy your life?"

"Of course I do. What is there not to enjoy?"

"Well, your whole family, your community, everyone is relying on you to pull in income. That must be quite a weight on your shoulders. And the way I hear it, there is never quite enough to go around."

"There is never enough to go around. Never enough to get by comfortably. But we make it go around. We make it go around to everyone. And we stretch our resources so that even if we cannot live comfortably, even if we cannot live fully, we can get by. And that's enough." There is a thread of anger in his young voice. And a thread of sadness. A thread of passion. But these threads are hardly recognizable. He hides them well.

"But do you not feel some sense of regret, some sense of anger, at just getting by while others get by so comfortably, so luxuriously?"

"Why would I? I have to get along with everyone. I have to get along with society. I have to get along with the world. Bitterness and jealousy would not serve me. They would only make me resentful."

"But is it not natural to be bitter? Is it not natural to be resentful?"

"Perhaps it is to you, you who have always had a comfortable life and everything you could need. But my people are used to living like this. We are used to working hard."