Archive for September, 2007
Built It In Order To Destroy Family (Short Story No. 10)
First Draft Forward
First, there are four articles that I referenced to write the following short story; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Bazalgette, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_sewerage_system, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_India and http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/06/11/100083453/. Like many other short stories I wrote previously, I focused on wrapping up the story when I wrote the first draft of ‘Built It In Order To Destroy Family’ rather than spending a lot of time and effort to write a perfect story. That is not to say that I did not put a lot of effort or spend time, but I am afraid that I might not have corrected all basic mistakes such as misspellings and grammatical errors. Furthermore, some sentences in the first draft might sound too similar to those in referenced articles. I understand that published articles should not have such errors, but, if I allow myself to make an excuse for it, this is just a short story published on the web as a ‘first draft’. I will correct all errors. I will also refine the writing in near future as I work on the second draft.
As a first draft, this is ok, but I know that certain ideas are not conveyed very articulately; I also know that some sentences and paragraphs do not sound as eloquently as I want them to. I might even make a significant structural change in the second draft; I actually thought about this when I read through the first draft right before I wrapped it up. But I need to take a little time and come back to this in order to make improvement. I just wanted to state these things to inform readers.
I. Family, An Impertinent Institution From The Past
II. Engineer
III. Why?
IV. City
V. Planning
VI. ‘The Rich’ And ‘The Poor’
VII. Looters Who Call Themselves ‘Industrialists’
VIII. Day With Layla: Part One
IX. Day With Layla: Part Two, Today At His Office
X. Day With Layla: Part Three, Politics of The Sewage
XI. Dream
XII. Transformation
Short Stories (Fiction) | 28.09.2007 11:32 | No Comments
I. Family, An Impertinent Institution From The Past
“Ding”, rang the doorbell. Engineer answered and found that it was College Student, his friend’s son. College Student asked Engineer if he could use the phone. He said, “Can I …” but he basically demanded; as fast as the door opened, he stepped into the flat and approached the phone. So, there was really no intention of ‘asking’ on College Student’s part; it was a demand and nothing else. He felt disturbed; he was right in the middle of making a grant plan for his project. Also his flat was rather small and it was not an inviting place, and thus, having a guest here was unlike having one at a large house with a luxurious guesthouse; he was not embarrassed but felt uncomfortable. But this was a minor concern; the most disturbing was that College Student simply did not understand the concept of privacy, formality or courtesy to make a simple call to him before the visitation.
Why did this young man simply ignore courtesy and formality? The answer is simple; he found that Engineer is a member of the extended family since he is a close friend of his father. Perhaps he fundamentally lacks formality; perhaps he also lacks manners. But, the main problem is that the concept of ‘family’ is distorted. To Engineer, the definition of ‘family’ is clear; his blood relatives, in particular, his sibling, parents and grandparents are his family. The definition of ‘friend’ is also rather clear; friend’s friend is not exactly a friend. And family members of ‘friend’ are not exactly friends, either, though they are not total strangers. However, in this city, family members of his friend automatically assume that they are his friends as well AND his properties are shared properties. This is disturbing because this essentially suggests the destruction of private property; this also suggests the destruction of privacy or complete lack of privacy. And these imply the death of individualism or imply that such concept is not understood to begin with. That cannot possibly happen. But how is this tainted definition of ‘family’ created in the first place? The answer is intelligible; this is a dog-eat-dog society and this is how the current popular definition of ‘family’ is created or inherited from the society of the past. Everyone lies to everyone else, everyone cheats on everyone else and everyone loots from everyone else. Therefore, ‘trust’ is an inconceivable concept. And because of that, each family needs to annihilate privacy and individuality within the unit. If two families merge, as a member of one family and a member of another family become close friends or they get married in order to strengthen two families, annihilation of privacy and individuality would extend within the mingled unit. This is a survival mechanism, and it is a necessity in the dog-eat-dog society. But it has to be recognized that, ultimately, it is fundamentally flawed and the mechanism is the antithesis of individualism. It is not a solution but a compromise.
‘Trust’ is something one earns as he/she acts responsibly, loyally and honestly, continuously toward another; but the mechanism of the distorted family simply abandons it for two reasons: First. Practically speaking, trust needs to be assumed so that all members of the family created from two previously different families can start sharing properties immediately and Second. No one acts responsibly, loyally or honestly, continuously toward another in the dog-eat-dog society so ‘trust’ needs to be assumed differently. But can trust be truly earned differently? No. Then, does the mechanism function? Not fully. It is a dramatically accommodated contrivance; inconsiderate unannounced bell ring proceeded by the rudeness and lack of courtesy and formality is a fine example of that. Lying, cheating and looting occur within the family, though probably not all families are so dysfunctional. Basically, the family is an endless cycle of regression AND the gatekeeper to the world of innovation, creativity and human dynamics. This is why Engineer needs to eradiate the family. The family is stifling the entire society; it keeps the dog-eat-dog society as it is. This is the reason why Engineer needs to build the functional sewage in the city.
Short Stories (Fiction) | 28.09.2007 11:20 | 1 Comment
II. Engineer
Was Engineer a crusader? Did he hear the voice of God who commanded him to build the sewage? No. Was he abused by his family members as he grew up? No. Did he take up a certain ideology that convinced him to start the project? He certainly studied different philosophies, in particular, political philosophies, but he did not blindly follow any particular philosophy. Those who believed that he was their friend, his acquaintances and all other who knew him presume that he took on the project as a capable engineer who should step up and do so.
Engineer was born and grew up in the city; he was from a modestly affluent family. He studied Civil Engineering at the most prestigious university in the country and later obtained Master’s Degree in Structural Engineering overseas. He came back partly because he faced difficulty finding a job there and partly because he optimistically believed that his country was on the verge of the greatest transformation in her history.
Upon his return, he immediately started getting involved in the development of the metro train system, probably the biggest engineering project in the city at that time. Later, he set up his own engineering consulting firm. However, he overworked upon starting the business; he also faced a number of administrative problems unanticipated and they stressed him greatly. He suffered the nervous breakdown as a result, and he ended up being forced to take some time off. During the time off, he decided to take on the project of the construction of the new sewage.
He did not suddenly come to realize that the stifling family structure needed to be destroyed. What he saw and experienced overseas enabled him to acquire objectivity, and that objectivity allowed him to analyze the current state of the city. The analysis convinced him that the family ought to be destroyed, and in order to do that, he needed to build the new sewage. He knew this for some time; he certainly knew before he set up his own engineering firm. It was simply that he hoped that someone else would take care of it instead. He probably knew that no one was going to work on the monumental project, however, and during the time off, he finally made up his mind.
The catastrophically poor quality of the current sewage system was so apparent; there were Cholera epidemics that claimed thousands of lives in the recently history of the city. Even when there was no epidemic, hundreds of lives were lost due to the disease every year, though this did not make news headlines. Albeit rather difficult to believe, reports were in fact from 21st century: Cholera was very much alive in the city. He went over related reports while he rested. Of course, he did not have to read reports produced by the government and international aid organizations to realize that this was just a proverbial tip of iceberg. But it was rather arduous for him to study numbers, as they did not lie or manipulate; they awakened his sense of reality, and his awakened sense nauseated him. As he walked around the city, he could not distinguish drainages and sewages; they both looked the same. Piled up garbage blocked them all; they looked like open deposits of toxic waste permeating toxic smell and bleeding pestilent insects genetically enhanced by it. From time to time, garbage was removed, but he could guess that contaminated poisonous water flew directly into wherever the next destination was, untreated.
Upon returning to work, he started building a political connection and soon did he become an assistant surveyor for Metropolitan Commission of Sewers, a municipal government’s office; he despised the bribe, the looting by the government, but he had be practical in order to reach his goal. Immediately after that, he became an engineer of the commission. Throughout this time, practically nothing to improve the sewage system was done. He was not surprised and he simply acted effectually; he kept patience. Then, he eventually became the chief engineer of the commission and this was when he proposed to revolutionize the city’s sewage system, and finally, the actual plan to construct the sewage was begun to be drawn.
Short Stories (Fiction) | 28.09.2007 11:19 | No Comments
III. Why?
But how did Engineer decide to build the functional sewer? Why not solve the problem of corruptions assuming that he can do something about it? Why not provide the constant supply of electricity? Why not improve medical facilities? How about the construction of the metro train system? He was involved in the project, and by now, he can call himself an expert. The system can improve 1000%; it only connects key locations now, but it can connect ten times as many locations, and that would certainly improve the over all transportation system in the city. Education? All these are imperative obviously, but he had to solve the problem of the most basic infrastructure, that is, the infrastructure to provide only safe and clean water; it cannot dump dirty water into a nearby river, lake or ocean meanwhile. He found that developing the infrastructure and the management system to establish the effective and functional sanitation system was also essential; however, he concluded that the water supply system was THE basic infrastructure for it would improve the living condition and increase the over all productivity immediately. He figured that the bottom line was the most basic infrastructure intuitively but he also studied history to seek guidance. To take closely related examples, he studied the modern history of London and Paris, two of the greatest cities in the world. They were already such cities in the 19th century already; however, there was a major turning point, and all aspects of these two cities were transformed at that point. They became two of cities that led the world. And today, they continue to possess the same power and influence; they are fundamentally different from cities that just hold populations of 10 million or more. What was that turning point? Both cities transformed their sewage systems by the end of the 20th century.
London and Cholera, a water-born disease, are not put in a same sentence today, and it is, quite frankly, unimaginable, but there were a number of Cholera epidemics in 19th century London; it was just like a major city in a 3rd world country today from the public health point of view. Thames that runs through London was essentially an extension of sewer back then. But, Londoners finally started constructing the modern sewage system including intercepting sewers in the second half of the 19th century and finished it; the city was transformed completely. Cholera became a disease of the past and Londoners has had access to unpolluted truly clean water since then. Over time, slums were transformed and the living standard of the city improved dramatically and fundamentally. This was also the turning point in which the dog-eat-dog society of London went extinct; at least, they had access to clean sanitary water. A similar thing can be said about the sewage system of Paris, and this is probably a better example. Water filled up the sewage when it rained up until the turn of the 19th century; this is observed in cities in 3rd world countries today. As the sewer covered the city, there was no such thing as public health; it was obvious that the sewer endangered lives of Parisians and probably made very many sick. Though, under Louis XIV, Parisians built a rather extensive sewage system at that time, and under Napoleon I, they greatly enhanced it, the sewage system was not capable of taking out all the sewer from Paris, and thus, enabling the city to provide clean water. They also finally started constructing a modern sewage system in the middle of 19th century. The rest is, as they say, history. Cannibalism society of Paris finally became the history of the past.
Ancient history also taught Engineer. The empire that laid the foundation of the western society, Rome. What was it that enabled Rome to become the most powerful and dominant empire of its time and make the lasting impact on the history of mankind? Aqueduct, an artificial channel constructed to convey water from one location to another. That is what made the most profound difference, and arguably, because of the Aqueduct, Renaissance was born in Italy, and arguably, it become the beginning of the modernism. Clean water made Italy the focal point of the modern civilization.
Short Stories (Fiction) | 28.09.2007 11:19 | No Comments
IV. City
To some extent, it is comforting to know that London and Paris had dysfunctional sewage systems, but Engineer knew that the current situation of his city is probably much worse than 19th century London and Paris.
Once the river reaches the city, it turns into filth; it is already contaminated before it reaches the city, but the entrance to it becomes the beginning of the completion of contamination. The polluted river stretches a great distance even after it exits there; the marine life is scarcely sustainable. All types of garbage and rubbish cover its banks completely; there is not much difference between that and a local sanitation center. The sanitation center might be a more encouraging site since garbage gets processed periodically. Half of the city’s raw sewage, that is completely black and toxic, flows into its water directly. Article published on the website of a major international news organization reports the following; when the regional director of the Campaign to Protect the Environment, an international environmental organization answered to the reporter, he commented, “The river is dead. It just has not been officially cremated.” The comment was not sarcasm; he told what he and everyone else saw.
The perniciousness of the river shows that the society has not fundamentally progressed to the next level while its economic growth is hailed by the media; it shows that the shape of the dog-eat-dog society has just changed its form. The government has spent nearly $500 million trying to clean up the river, most of it going to waste-treatment stations, yet pollution levels more than doubled for the last ten years. And they continue to rise.
The problem is that 11 of the city’s 17 sewage-treatment plants are underutilized; a quarter of them run at less than 30 percent capacity. Why this disaster? The city’s sewage system is so corroded and clogged that it cannot deliver to the treatment plants the waste of the 55 percent of the city’s 15 million inhabitants who are connected to the system. Even if the plants were fully utilized, there would still be the waste from 1,500 unplanned neighborhoods, where sewage finds its way into the drains and the river.
According to the Campaign to Protect the Environment, nearly 80 percent of the river’s pollution is the result of raw sewage. Combined with industrial runoff, which comes to more than three billion liters of waste per day, a quantity well beyond the river’s assimilative capacity. The fizzing mix is so glaring that it can be viewed by a mediocre quality satellite image.
Short Stories (Fiction) | 28.09.2007 11:18 | No Comments
V. Planning
When planning the network, Engineer studied the area, which had the highest population density, gave every person the most generous allowance of sewage production and came up with a diameter of pipe needed. However, he knew that there was going to be always the unforeseen. Given the estimate that the city’s population was going to be doubled by 2011 from 2001, it was not such a stretch of imagination to estimate that the population would double again in another decade. He doubled the diameter to be used.
The effect of the new sewer system should extinguish cholera not only in places that do not permeate malodor, but wherever water supplies ceased to be contaminated by sewage. The basic premise of this expensive project was probably wrong, as so often happened; he was realistic about this. But the end result should be much better than expected. The river running through the city should contain several smaller varieties of fish in couple of decades; it should also become safe to swim in, though creating a public swimming place is not an objective of Engineer.
Short Stories (Fiction) | 28.09.2007 11:18 | No Comments
VI. ‘The Rich’ And ‘The Poor’
While Engineer desired to destroy the family, he also planned to destroy the use of two common phrases ‘the rich’ and ‘the poor’ and the cancerous social structure described by and enforced by these phrases. ‘The rich’ and ‘the poor’ are two of the most commonly used phrases in the city as well as in the country. They not only describe the social structure but also they reinforce it. Engineer despised these two phrases because they only made the society anti-progressive. Marx saw ‘bourgeoisies’ and ‘proletariats’ in 19th century Europe, but he analyzed the society and extrapolated two classes. But, here, in this city, two-class society is a given condition and anyone hardly feels disgust or unbearable vileness as he/she speaks these phrases. The class society is an acceptance like the acceptance of the fact that the sun comes up from the east.
This class society compartmentalizes the society, and it also has a direct implication to the sanitation condition of the city. Specifically, cleanup is assigned to a part of the lower class and it is compartmentalized; in other words, the rest do not bother about the sanitation at all. Upper class, for example, do not clean their own bathrooms; they never even sweep or polish floors in their entire lifetime. As a result, almost entire population does not make any effort at all to make any places clean or less dirty. For instance, a typical office building has no trashcans in it; occupants just throw away garbage in isles. There are no trashcans on streets, either, and they just throw garbage wherever they feel like or, what is worse, throw them into sewages and drainages. Collective action of 15 million city residents creates a massive pollution. Behavior of those who do cleanup is no better unfortunately because it follows the behavior of the majority, i.e., not paying any attention to the over all sanitation condition.
Short Stories (Fiction) | 28.09.2007 11:17 | No Comments
VII. Looters Who Call Themselves ‘Industrialists’
Engineer has developed his own ideology, but the ideology did not lead him to believe that he had the duty to serve for the public. There was a problem to be solved, and he was going to solve it; it was as simple as that. He also knew that he had to be the one to tackle the problem. Looters such as corrupted government officials and so called industrialists, who essentially used those corrupt ones’ guns to enslave millions and amassed billions, would not solve the problem.
Though Engineer was born in an upper middle class family, he did not believe in the trickledown economy or any theory that suggested that industrialists and their wealth would automatically empower the lower class and improve the over all living condition. To him, the debate was entirely unnecessary.
The current living condition of the city tells everything that needs to be told. The city is the capital of his country, and only three countries in the world has more super riches, those who possess the networth of a billion dollars or more, yet the basic infrastructure is nowhere near the standard of 1st world countries. There is no such thing as the trickledown economy evidently. He did not necessarily criticize them, but he certainly did not admire them, either. Also he felt that they could not possibly appreciate their financial wealth in this condition. If one of them tries to drive one of the most luxurious cars in this city, he cannot possibly enjoy the ride in absolutely despairing and dysfunctional traffic. If he managed to do that magically, tires would corrode because of contaminated dirt roads. Car would be covered with toxic dusts because of air pollution. And who knows? He might get robbed, mugged or even kidnapped because of pathetic security. Say, one of so-called respectable industrialists wants to stop at a wine store to select a few bottles for the night. Can he/she do that? No. The vast majority of drinkers do not even know the difference between red wine and white wine. Even those who know the difference have no idea how Port was invented; they cannot possibly know the historical background. If you start discussing how Dom Perignon initially despised bubbles in his wine, but he later sold it as it was to English and it eventually became champagne that we know today, oh, boy, few locals understand what you are discussing about. In such city, a decent wine store that keeps several hundred bottles of wine or more is inconceivable. And if that is the case, what is the point of possessing a billion dollars in the city? There is no joy. Or they simply do not care about the city? They spend much time in Tuscany, Southern France or Spanish islands in the Mediterranean? Well, that is probably the case. At any rate, it is quite clear that the city will not be saved by great industrialists that absent-minded journalists of this county write or speak of and hail.
Engineer fundamentally believed in true industrialists, but he did not consider that those who relied on government subsidies ‘true industrialists’; they were essentially looters. Automobile manufacturers including one wholly owned by his countryman essentially rely on government subsidies. They let the government fund and construct roads; they take no part in it, not financially. It is true that roads need to be built to improve the over all transportation system, but the government has given the right to occupy road to automobiles alone. Pedestrians, cyclists, rickshaws and all the rest are, all of a sudden, taken that right away; automobiles might run over them, but no legal action would be taken. In other words, this is a double subsidy; automobile manufacturers, of course, argue that automobiles are the future though. Automobiles are designed to use combustion engines only; no hybrid, no ethanol, no electric and no bio-diesel. The reason is very simple; oil companies are owned and operated by the government and they fix the price of petroleum. Another government subsidy; automobile manufacturers argue that this is to give the stability to the nation’s industrial base though. To sum up, the automobile industry is one big subsidized industry with no innovation, and Engineer did not call those who ran automobile manufacturers ‘industrialists’ but call them ‘looters.’ Bankers are also looters; they generate profit by lending money, but their profitability depends on the fractional lending. As they lend 10 times as much as their actual reserve, are they really taking the risk? No, in case of crisis, the government steps in to rescue them; the reserve is federally insured. But how can the government guarantee to insure? Because it gets funding through taxation. But why is it a guarantee? It is a guarantee because the government has the power of guns. In other words, profitability of banks relies on the power of guns while they do not get their hands dirty. They are looters.
It was inconceivable that looters would take any action to improve the over all living condition in the city, and he found that, unfortunately, much of the industrial sector was ran by looters. This was the reason why he stepped in so as to build the sewage system; the incompetent municipal government would not do it, nor would looters who call themselves ‘industrialists’.
Short Stories (Fiction) | 28.09.2007 11:17 | No Comments
VIII. Day With Layla: Part One
He sat alone in front of his computer. He was supposed to be studying the water supply system extensively and continue planning the construction of the sewage system. He was driven, though he was not a man who congratulated himself for the sense of self-worth. The result had be to there, and the process in which he attained the result alone had the meaning. Nonetheless, he was human after all. He could not help feeling great despair; there were days that he did not feel like getting up to look at another report of colossal catastrophe. For this reason, he often made appointments for mornings so that he was obliged to get up, take bath, shave, get dressed properly and get ready. But even that was not enough; he had to speak to someone about his struggle to seek relief.
Layla was a Canadian woman. While he continued his work, he utilized social networks on the internet; he encountered her in one of social networks. Messages were exchanged and two got to know each other more than their acquaintances did, but they never met face-to-face before, nor did they have any plan to do so in near future. Engineer felt great comfort and relief in ‘chatting’ with her though. Every now and then, he just started telling her about the project so that he could breeze, gain sanity and take another step forward. And tonight, he saw her through her webcam. Her room looked rather dark, but it was probably because of the camcorder’s setting. Frame rate was not great, but given the physical distance between the two and the poor quality of the internet connection that he got in the city, he could not do much about it. He started typing to tell her, his cyber friend, what he was up to. “Residents of the city receive water only a few hours per day because of inadequate management of the distribution system. Limited amount of water supply leads to recycle of water, but there is no modern recycling system, and thus, this essentially leads to contaminate water. A large number of residents or almost all of city residents greatly suffer from this. Even if they can somehow manage to bring water from a nearby water source like protected well or public standpipe, they need to devote so much of their time and energy just to get relatively clean water. Under such condition, they cannot conceive of ‘quality’ of life. Another tragedy is that the upper class negligently concludes that ‘the poor’ suffer because they are ‘the poor’. The upper class, who are supposedly educated do not come to realize that water is a shared resource regardless of their preferences or ideologies, or they refuse to believe it. They only focus on securing it for them alone by purchasing bottled water and install the water purifier. Good attempt, but whatever they do does not fundamentally solve the problem. This obviously affects commercial activities as well. Factories have very difficult time operating or they simply cannot operate. Even the service sector suffers because lack of water means that lack of functional basic utilities such as restroom, sink to wash hands, and small kitchen to make tea and coffee and wash cups. … The sewerage network has not been maintained properly over the years, and this has resulted in the overflow of raw sewage in open drains. Blockages, settlements and inadequate pumping capacities only worsen the situation. Why is this negligence? It turns out that revenues of the city were just sufficient to cover about 60% of operating costs of its utility in 2004. Maintenance has, as a result, been minimal. The situation has not improved much since then. It has probably gotten a lot worse. In the past, the city’s utility has relied heavily on the federal government’s financial support for recurrent and capital expenditures in the magnitude of 65 million dollars per year and 155 million dollars per year respectively. As financial support for both capital and recurrent expenditures has been passed on as loans by the municipal, the utility’s balance sheet is loaded with a huge debt totaling about 1.1 billion dollars. Accounts receivable represent more than 12 months of billing, part of it being non- recoverable. I was flabbergasted when I learned this. Now, I do believe in the pure and ideal form of capitalism is the foundation of wealth creation, but I do not think that even that is not a perfect system. It has its flaws. And because of that, I am not for privatizing the water supply system. However, only the government could accumulate this much debt, keep this horrendous balance sheet and manage to survive for years somehow. If this were operated by a private company, the company would have gone bankrupt long ago. Look, I run business. I own an engineering consulting firm. I admit that its accounting is not in perfect order from time to time, but it was never this messy. Also, at the end of the day, I have to take responsibility. If I mess up, I go down. But this government …”
Short Stories (Fiction) | 28.09.2007 11:16 | No Comments
IX. Day With Layla: Part Two, Today At His Office
“I am amazed at the inadequacy of the water supply system in general and practically non-existent sewage system. Backend support systems like its accounting and public relations offices look like they’d better not exist. At the very best, they are just wasting money. You know, I often feel lost and wonder where to start. But, I tell you, from time to time, I am reminded that I live in a dog-eat-dog society. And I feel so aggravated. That aggravation turns into my great desire to annihilate this dog-eat-dog martyrdom. … I tell you what happened a couple of days ago. I was at my office working; I was thirsty, so I opened the small refrigerator to get bottled water. Though I grew up in the city and I was used to drinking tap water of admittedly questionable quality, the more I learned about the city’s water supply system, the less chance I took. After all, at least a couple of hundred people die from Cholera every year. I only drink bottled water now. But, as I opened the refrigerator, I realized that I forgot to get new bottles. I had to have fresh water, so I walked out of the office and went to get a bottle at a nearby store. When I reached the store, I grabbed a bottle, walked to the counter and showed a large note. Young man at the counter just swung his head from side to side and implied that he did not have enough changes to take the large note. He did not speak a word, nor did he act apologetically in front of the customer. Ridiculous, so I asked him to go get changes at a nearby store. He swung his head again and gestured ‘No.’ Repugnant customer service. I walked to a different store then. I took a bottle again and passed it to a young man in the store and showed the same large note. The man then just pointed his finger at the fat man at the counter, the owner of the store apparently. The fat man did not speak a word, either. He was eating lunch at the counter and he virtually ignored the consumer. Irrevocable. I walked to yet another store and I finally bought a bottle of water. However, the store did not have enough changes, so the woman at the counter just threw a couple of candies in exchange. I told her that I did not want candies. She just told me that she had no changes. None understands customer service, because there is no point of providing such service in the dog-eat-dog society. No one knows what would happen tomorrow, so they do not care about being polite, courteous or formal. Oh, last week, the owner of an internet café even waved his hand rudely to suggest me to get out when I simply pointed out about a broken computer there. I have a fine computer and it was not that I had to stop there, but there was a minor technical problem in my office; I needed to take care of a certain task immediately, so I stopped by there. You know, if I were the dictator of this country, I’d just set up a firing squad and execute these lazy anti-progressive anti-production storeowners. That would dramatically progress this society, and it is perhaps a needed action. Or maybe not. I am not really into violence. I think I will just go back my work. ”
Short Stories (Fiction) | 28.09.2007 11:16 | No Comments