By way of deception, thou shalt do war – Motto of the Mossad
Life is the art of being well deceived and in order that the deception may succeed, it must be habitual and uninterrupted.- William Hazlitt
The #1206 “fiction” series continues …
Using his credit card, he deftly laid out the lines of cocaine on the small mirror he had placed on the dining room table. Laying the card aside, he grabbed a small straw and snorted up the fine white powder. Within a minute or so, his worries began to fade away.
He staggered into the bedroom and climbed into bed next to his girlfriend. She kissed him lightly and he snuggled in to her.
“Thanks for putting gas in my car”, she said, “I don’t think I could have gotten to the abortion clinic without it.”
“No skin off my nose”, he said as the room began to spin around him, “I used the company credit card. They’ll never notice. I’m sure the guys at the top steal from the company all the time.”
“And besides”, he continued, “It’s no good if my wife finds out that I’m a dad to someone else’s baby, is it?”
“That’s true”, she said as she laughed.
She got serious for a moment and then asked him, “Do you think there will be any complications because it’s my third abortion?”
“Third?”, he asked, surprised by the number.
“Nah”, he replied, shaking his head, “Doctors know what they are doing these days.”
She nodded, reached over for the remote control and turned the TV on. It blared the latest controversy about Trump and Clinton as they prepared for the next Presidential Debate.
“I’m so disgusted with both of these people”, he said, “They’re both full of crap with all the dishonest and immoral things they do.”
“I know”, she replied, “When are we going to get someone who represents the people and not their own selfish, stupid behavior?”
“Exactly”, he said as his phone chirped. He glanced at it, reading the SMS from a friend of his who had picked up a few guns “off the radar”. He replied that he would reach out later and placed the phone back on the nightstand.
His girlfriend stared at the TV screen, her eyes seeing but not seeing the brief note on the ticker about the Russian military sending more nuclear weapons towards the Baltic and Mediterranean, another about India and Pakistan inching closer to a nuclear war and a report on the number of people killed in Haiti by Hurricane Matthew.
“I just don’t know”, she said, sighing.
“What’s wrong?”, he asked, momentarily glancing at the TV as he rolled over towards her.
“I’m picking up my new iPhone after I go to the clinic tomorrow”, she replied, “and I really don’t know if I should get the white one or the pink one.”
“Hmmmmm”, he said, pursing his lips in thought, “That’s a good question.”
The two “men” sat in a coffee shop, leaning in towards each other and speaking in low voices.
“Fascinating”, said the first, “The planet economy is in tatters with no solution in sight, Russian and US militaries are repositioning their assets for an all out war and all these people can worry about is which one of two immoral people is the most or least immoral. It’s a race to the bottom and no one is the winner.”
“I know”, replied the second, “The government leaders they elect train and supply terrorists who come back to them with hostile intentions and even though the terror threat is not significant, with more people being killed by drunk drivers every year, the so-called leaders then sell to the American people the idea that they can save them from the very people who were created by their own policies and actions in the first place.“
“Yes”, agreed the first, “Tax returns and missing emails seem far more important than the economy, healthcare, education, safety from nuclear, bio and cyber weapons and the myriad of other issues requiring attention. People even fall prey to statistical manipulation, not knowing or caring that the means by which unemployment is being calculated has been changed to omit those who would have been included in the unemployment ranks years ago, putting the real unemployment rate at over 20% while 48 million people need food stamps to survive and 98 million people are not in the ranks of the employed at all. It wouldn’t be as easy to control their minds if it weren’t for a news media long since having given up its soul to the highest bidder. People watch the news not to be informed but to feel good about being superior to or luckier than the poor schlep they are watching.”
“What about that rumor that Trump is actually a mole for the Democrat party and that a fix is in for the election right under the noses of the people?”, asked the second, “Isn’t that the craziest thing ever?”
The first one laughed at the thought. “It sounds to me like you have been watching too much of their news media.”
“The really sad thing”, said the second as he stood up to leave, “Is that while the American people complain about their choices for President, they fail to recognize that the two choices are not aberrations of their society but are in fact products of it. Given that, what else could they choose from other than those who represent a natural evolution of their society?”
“True”, agreed the first as he also stood up to leave, “Maybe if they didn’t numb their brain sharing the mundane on social media, they might have the interest or ability to figure this out.”
He looked around at the people sitting at tables around him and shook his head quietly.
“It’s easy to see issues in others that people don’t see in themselves”, he said quietly, “while waiting for someone else to be responsible for their own problems.”
The second nodded and then noticed a teenager listening to some music on his phone.
He waved at the kid to get his attention, waited for him to remove his ear buds and then asked him, “What are you listening to, kid?”
“Armageddon by Prism”, he said before placing the ear buds back in his ear.
“Well at least someone has a grasp on where they are headed”, the second man said to the first as he laughed.
The first man joined him in laughter and clapped his hand against the back of the second.
“So true”, he said, “It would be nice to help these people but their history shows that they only learn when their backs are up against the wall.”
The second pushed the door open before observing, “Hopefully for them, the lesson doesn’t come too late or deliver a punch that cannot be survived.”
They walked out of the coffee shop and vanished into the night air.
To be continued.
© 2016 – Harry Tucker – All Rights Reserved
Background
There are a lot of parables buried in this story and within the parables, there is both fact and fiction.
If you need the parables explained to you, you may be part of a larger problem.
If you don’t understand them or don’t care about them at all, you are part of a larger problem.
If you are in neither of these two camps, then the world, with its amazing beauty and unlimited potential is waiting for your voice, your gifts, your talents, your strengths and your leadership.
What are you waiting for?
Series Origin
This series, a departure from my usual musings, is inspired as a result of conversations with former senior advisors to multiple Presidents of the United States, senior officers in the US Military and other interesting folks as well as my own professional background as a Wall St. / Fortune 25 strategy advisor and large-scale technology architect.
While this musing is just “fiction” (note the quotes) and a departure from my musings on technology, strategy, politics and society, as a strategy guy, I do everything for a reason and with a measurable outcome in mind. :-)
This “fictional” musing is a continuation of the #1206 series noted here.
Addendum - An Interesting Question - October 9, 2016
Holly Simon asked this question, which I found to be very thought provoking:
@HarryTucker people are a product of their own actions? Or a reflection on their own actions.
Interesting question indeed!
Addendum 2 - Another Interesting (Albeit Blunt) Opinion - October 10, 2016
Here's an intriguing, albeit blunt, opinion that follows a similar theme to this blog post. It's not an endorsement of any political candidate.
Feel free to be offended if it suits your need.
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