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VII. The drunk.
“Care for a drink?” He smells. He’s slouching on a couch, next to a liqour cabinet. It’s mid-morning.

“Oh, I see you’re not interested.. hmm.. well.” He turns his attention to his mostly-empty glass of whiskey, turning it in his hand. Then he looks at the bottle in his other hand. Suddenly he perks up.

“Ah! I have just the thing.” He downs the remainder of his glass and opens the cabinet. “Nothing beats this one. An old classic.” The bottle is another whiskey, which he promptly pours into his glass and a fresh one.

“Let me let you in on a little secret,” his voice lowers. “This bottle never runs out. And it never gives you a hangover! I don’t always drink it, because.. I don’t know.. it just seems too good to be true. But I always drink it on special occasions, or around special people.”

He brightens and speaks loudly again. “Here ya go. Drink up!” He belches, drinks, belches again. “Whew! Nothing beats it. This is paradise, you know. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

He takes another swig and smiles. “No really. This. Is. Paradise. Really! This is it.”

“Don’t you see?”

VI. The social butterfly.

A group of women are gathered around a round table. They are drinking tea and eating cake. They are dressed up.

One of the women is telling a story to the others: “–and *he* was wearing his bathrobe, right there at the party! Oh, how funny! And his poor wife was so embarassed that she–” she continues on, making small-talk which seems to entertain her and the others to no end.

“What could be more wonderful than to be always surrounded by friends? And there are always parties to go to!” She beams at the other women. They respond with picture-perfect smiles of adoration and jealousy.

She whispers: “It’s always been like this, and I just know it always will be! Everyone wishes they were me. That’s because I’m so beautiful, and social. And it all comes naturally to me, I have never had to try!”

V. The Yogi.

He is sitting on the floor, cross-legged, meditating. His breath is slow, deep, even, and controlled. His body is lean, hard, yet relaxed.

Suddenly his eyes flash open. “Hello,” he says calmly.

“I have studied from all the masters. I know how to breathe correctly. I know how to stand and sit correctly. I know how to stretch my body, and I am extremely limber. See?”

He pauses for a moment, then launches slowly into a headstand and lets his legs fall into a split. From this position, he continues talking.

“I began studying when I was a young man to become a great yogi. I have spent my entire life dedicated to this task. And what a payout for my efforts! Look at the things I can do!”

He demonstrates.

IV. The Academics.

An old man and a young man are huddled in a small study, surrounded by books. There are shelves from floor to ceiling on all sides, filled with books. Smoke wafts throughout the room from the old man’s pipe.

“Knowledge. So much. All the things you could ever want to know,” says the younger man.

The older man chimes in. “And don’t you forget it! Knowledge is power. Knowledge is everything. Whenever I have a question, I look it up in a book. Or, if I’m down, I read a book to cheer me up. Or, if I’m bored, I read a book to give me something to do. This young whippersnapper here, though, all he needs is his iPoo whatever, and he doesn’t even read any books! Kids these days. Whew! Well, anyways..” he trails off as he loses his attention back into his book.

“Whenever *I* need to know something, it’s right here at my fingertips. The young man says proudly.. Look–just that easy! What do you want to know–I know it! C’mon, ask away!” then something on his iPod takes his attention and he trails off: “..everything! I.. know everything.. isn’t it wonderful?”

III. The Provider.
A man and a woman are sitting at a table together. The woman is enormously fat. The man looks at the clock on the wall, then gets up to go to the window. He skulkily reaches through and picks up a basket from the flower bed outside, which he brings in and sets on the table. The basket contains a hearty meal.

The woman looks at him blankly for a moment, then turns her attention to the food, which she begins devouring rapidly.

“We don’t know where it comes from,” he says. “It is provided. Before it started, we had to go out and work to grow our own food. I had a lovely garden!” For a brief moment a light brightened in his face, then it flickered and went out as he continued. “One day, the basket showed up. We ate it all. The next day we only ate some of it, and we noticed that an hour after it appeared, the basket disappeared again.” The woman glances up as he starts talking, then back down to her food.

“That was when I began to suspect..” he is whispering now, and the woman is not paying attention to anything but her meal. Loud smacks emanate from her side of the table. “..that the food is not for us. The provider puts it there, but it is for someone else. Whatever we leave, goes to the others. If we take it all, they get nothing.”

“At first, I decided we’d better not take it all. But then, we were so hungry. And she..” he nods down the table at the woman who is still munching away “..she is always hungry. Now I bring the whole basket in and we eat all the food, though I leave most of it for her. She eats almost all of it, but always leaves a little for me.

“We never leave any for the others anymore. But there is always enough for us. Always. It’s all we could ask for, really.”

II. Sex.
“Isn’t it great?! There are women here you can do anything you like with! All the time! You wouldn’t *believe* all the crazy things I’ve done with them. I’ve had sex with hundreds of women. I’ve had sex in hundreds of positions. With mutiple women at once! And they all love it, no matter what perversion I subject them to–they can’t get enough! Whenever I’m not having sex, all I can think about is what I’m going to try next. Wow!”

I. Chocolate.
Three teenagers are sitting in a courtyard. They are all eating chocolate. There are shelves surrounding them, filled with more chocolate bars. They are all slim.

“Isn’t.. mmph.. this.. mmph.. wonderful?” the youngest one says between mouthfuls. “When I started eating the chocolate, I was worried that I would get sick or it would make me fat. But then they told me it was special chocolate that doesn’t have any side effects.” He gestures at the older two. “So we can eat as much as we like! Now it’s all I want to do! It’s all I want to do. MMmph..”

The next oldest one agrees emphatically as he licks his fingers. “All I want! Yummmm….”

The oldest has a glazed look in his eyes and mumbles something incoherent through mouthfuls.

Ron Paul tellin’ it like it is.

Everything is interconnected.
Flowing, dancing, all around us.

This We must remember. It is our duty to One Another.
We must strive to annhilate ourselves, as such:
our selfishness
our egos
our self-serving instincts.

When Everyone is doing their part–
doing their best
giving their all, to All
–We are all happier, We are all better off.

BUT

if We diminish ourselves–
cheat ourselves
lie to ourselves
destroy ourselves
–we diminish Everyone.
if we destroy our own potential,
we diminish the potential of All.

each of us knows what we need
each of us must honor our needs
in order to cultivate our potential
so that we can best serve All.

each of us must work;
trusting in ourselves,
to eliminate fear.
giving to ourselves,
to grow stronger.
so that we can give more
and yet more.

nobody else can tell us what we need
we must each learn that for ourselves
and insist that we get it
and accept no substitute.

for the good of All, we each must be…

…selfish.

I
Me
Mine
what I need
what I want

all I care about is My own experience.
nothing else matters to Me.

I will take orders from nobody but Myself.
I will make all of My own decisions.
And I will make them with exactly one goal:
increasing My own happiness.

I want My life to be plentiful, beautiful, long.
I want more of things that I like.
I like many things,
material things
food
pretty things
even people.

I like Myself. I like other people too.
I want to be happy. I want other people to be happy with me.

I can make Myself happier by giving myself what I need, what I want.
I can help other people to be happier by being kind to them.

I will never sacrifice Myself for another.
but I am happier–
I
Me
happier for Myself,
by My own standard, and nobody else’s!
–when I am kind, and generous, to others;
when I fit smoothly into the world;
when my song harmonizes with all of existence’s orchestra;

not needy, angry, forceful, clinging
but giving, gentle, friendly, loving…

…selfless.