(My response for this week's writing prompt.)
"Write about a person who quit."
Alright, while everyone's on the subject of sad examples of human existence, I have an even better one for you all...
So the school I go to, Racinette College, is about the same as any other school. It has the rugby team, the Chemistry building with stained glass windows... you know, that whole deal. Well, I'm sure it goes as no surprise that we also had our share of nutjobs making a stink about one movement or another.
Actually, I should retract that previous statement. To be fair, a lot of these crusaders - both secular and religious, mind you, it was fair game for both - more or less had a good point to make. But what can I say, no matter how righteous be the cause, sometimes you just have to shake your head and snicker as you see the one big pro-life demonstrations outside the student union building with their blown up posters of baby foetuses suddenly find itself surrounded by pro-choice supporters with their own signs and slogans.
"Pro-life" and "pro-choice"... seriously, who came up with those to describe the issue of abortion? Horrible choice of names... anyway...
So there was this one fellow I knew. He was kind of famous, ran for student council president three times while I was there, never won... he had his own favourite little thing to support. Actually, no, it was the opposite of that; he had his own thing against which to argue contrary.
I honestly couldn't even tell from exactly what angle he came from with this. It wasn't from the religious right, that's for sure, but it also sure as hell didn't come from the bleeding left either, at least not directly...
...making a statement about the religious right and then right afterwards saying "sure as hell," oh what a card I am...
You know what the best part is? You're all gonna crap yourselves when I finally get to what he was so against:
Japanese restaurants.
I almost wish I was kidding but at the same time I know it wouldn't nearly as funny otherwise. I think it had something to do with whales, Australia's stance on Japan's fishing industry, and the guy's Quarter-Maori background - I know, there's a missing piece to his logic, just try not to worry about it.
So being just the one guy, he didn't have a lot to work with. He started small, handing out leaflets about the cruel nature of Japanese cuisine outside the little sushi bar in the SUB's basement. Now this is one of those places that's there more for convenience than for actual quality sushi; it wasn't horrible, but it was far from the best in town. So one afternoon he came out of the photocopying place down the hall with a big stack of light blue papers - I'm guessing light blue was supposed to represent the sea, or the colour of whale meat or something, I don't know... either way, he certainly got his message out to the people who were able to spare the fifteen seconds to read one of the seven leaflets sitting on the tables around that area before digging into their lunches.
And, surprise surprise... nothing came of it. Call it the failure of an apathetic society to make a stand against environmental whatever, call it a dumb choice to "protest" outside a sushi shack that didn't even use real crab meat in the California rolls... I just call it sad yet funny.
I honestly thought that was just going to be the beginning. Like I said, this guy had run for student council president three times in the past four years - actually, that said, it makes you kind of wonder how long he's been at this school period - but that was it. No more awareness demonstrations, no more pamphlets. Nothing.
And no, he didn't go kill himself or anything especially lame like that. He still went to the school so we still saw him here and there on campus just like anyone else. I want to say that he suddenly became a lot quieter than before, but I really can't confirm or deny. He was just another guy at the school after that.
Still, he did leave one little editorial in the school paper later that month... you eat lunch, you have a couple hours between class, that's what that student paper was for, after all.
The gist of it was that he was upset at how little we cared about the world and its many injustices, how we had a chance to make a difference and we ignored it. Even used that Edmund Burke line about good men doing nothing and all that on us. What a piece of work... I'm almost surprised he didn't make a reference to Fascist collaborators or something...
I bet two weeks later the paper was filled with some amazing rebuttals in response to the guy. I couldn't tell you, though, because I didn't read it. But yeah, he was done... and really, I didn't miss him.
Am I an asshole? The guy really believed in something and I just crapped all over him and sat smiling as he threw in the towel. I don't know, I probably am in the long run... all I'm saying is that there's always a time and a place for everything. Sure, standing in front of the little sushi bar was a great way to gain exposure for it all, but seriously... inside a crowded college building, students trying to either rest up, eat lunch or study... it's not that anyone doesn't care about that stuff; it's that they just care about some other things a little more right then and there.
I remember when I was a kid and I once asked my mom about why we weren't going down to help clean up the beaches or plant new trees in the park. We had just done the whole recycling thing at school so I was all full of ideas and ready to take on the world! Well, my mom just smiled, pointed to the cabinet for all our newspapers, cans and milk jugs, and just said "we're doing our part already." It's funny, I never really thought about that again until I was well into my third year...
...and oh my goodness, I've totally derailed the whole topic of conversation, haven't I? Sorry, sorry... I'll stop preaching now... I'll go buy the next round, how about?
(Can anyone tell I was making it up as I went along?)
