The Objectivist!

[AmbivalentEye]

For english clas:

The OBJECTIVIST

-BY: AmbivalentEye

A beggar sits at the corner of 7th street and 13th avenue. He has mud-stained, ripped, moth-eaten rags over his body in the form of a shirt and some slacks. He sits with his legs spread out on the concrete and his right foot dangling off the edge of a sidewalk as he leans back on a metal trash bin.

A woman with golden locks, a powdered face, and a humble smile is walking in his direction. She is dressed in casual attire –a pastel collared blouse and some khaki pants. She wears a cross around her neck, hanging from thin, gold links resting gently on her skin. As she passes the man on the corner, she pauses, turns, and then faces him with a warm smile. She proceeds to pull out a $20 bill from a tiny wallet in her purse.

Woman: Good day Sir! Here. (Extends bill out to him). Take care of yourself now, and may God bless you!

The beggar takes the money and the lady continues in the same direction she was walking. The beggar sneers as he presses the fresh, new bill between the tips of his fingers. Then, with a single acrimonious movement, he shoved the bill into the folds of his shirt and thought of the fine whiskey bottle he would now be able to buy. He stretched his arms and forced out a loud belch from the pit of his stomach so he could once again enjoy the scent of his last drink about an hour earlier.

Meanwhile, a gentleman across the street that had stood waiting for a red light to cross, had been keenly observing the entire incident. He stands proudly erect with his head held high and his stiff, broad hands resting at his sides. He wears a finely tailored black suit, with a white shirt unbuttoned at the top, revealing the taut lines leading from his neck to his shoulders and down to the rest of his torso. The traffic light shifts to red and the moving cars slowly come to a complete stop. The man steps forward in the most confident manner, taking swift purposeful steps across the pavement, never looking down, and making it seem like he owned the street and the cars were his creation. When he reached the sidewalk on the other side of the street his torso immediately cast a shadow upon the beggar’s prostrated figure. Such that when the beggar looked up to the man, he could only distinguish a silhouette of utmost dignity with a piercing glare of sunlight outlining the upper half of the tall figure.

Beggar: Who are you?

(The man doesn’t answer)

(The beggar reaches out with his frail right hand, looking up at the dark figure pleadingly.)

Gentleman: Why?

Beggar: What? (Answers in confusion)

Gentleman: Why should I give you my money?

Beggar: (Shrinking in place) B..bececause…. I…..NEED it.

Gentleman: And?

Beggar: (Baffled) Huh?

Gentleman: Tell me. What right do you have to MY money?

Beggar: (Apologetically) I don’t understand Sir. But I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday morning, and any contribution from you would really be helpful and extremely appreciated.

Gentleman: Well, Ok. But what have you done since yesterday morning to try to get yourself a new meal or a better life?

Beggar: Well… umm… I mean… I’ve been doing this. I searched through several trash bins, but none had anything edible. I promise you I haven’t stolen any food in the past week.

Gentleman: And how long will it be before you do it again?

Beggar: You must understand Sir. I have to survive SOMEHOW.

Gentleman: Even at the expense of others? Even if you are depriving other individuals from their meals, their values, or even the product of their hard work?

Beggar: No! Wait… what? Sir, I don’t understand you.

Gentleman: You’re telling me that you have reduced yourself to the status of a scavenger –a creature that lives off of the remains of others because it chooses to not produce anything for itself. Then you tell me that if your scavenging doesn’t work, you would be willing to rob and con those same people that had been providing for your existence all along!?! You say that you HAVE TO survive somehow. Why?

(The beggar now tucks up his legs and puts his arms around them acting as if he is cold when really he is feeling threatened.)

Beggar: Because… (Lowers tone) I don’t want to die…(Looks down)

Gentleman: Then what do you have to live for if you are doing nothing productive to provide for your life?

Beggar: (Slightly sobbing) Sir, please… May I just have a couple of bucks? I ask nothing more of you.

Gentleman: But don’t you see that you are asking for the sustenance of MY life as well? I have labored many hours struggling to earn my paycheck at the end of the week. I have devoted my time, my effort, my intelligence, and my strength to earn that money. So at the end of the week, I KNOW that I have earned my own living. I know that I don’t have to ask others to support me, and it is also clear that everyone everywhere also has the potential of supporting themselves. What can you say to that? Can you honestly look at me in the eye and tell me that you have EARNED the money that I have slaved myself for during the whole week?!

Beggar: (Submittingly) No, Sir.

(The gentleman stands silent for a moment, looking down on the decrepit creature.)

Gentleman: I am going to do something for you. (Takes out small piece of paper from his wallet). Here is my card. I would like to offer you a job. Call this number Friday morning, and my secretary, Deborah, will tell you what you’ll be doing.

Beggar: A job? But why?

Gentleman: Because I believe in principle. And according to the principles of my life, any human being has the capacity to be rational and do things selfishly for the sake of their own existence. I shall never have any regard for you as a scavenger or simple consumer. You must earn your status in life and you must be willing and able to always provide for yourself without bringing detriment to those around you. I deal with people on terms of barter and fair exchange only. I will give you a job because I want you to work for me, and produce for me. I shall never commit an act without personal interest and neither should you. I suggest you think about that.

(The beggar takes the card and stares at it as the gentleman walks away)

Three days later, on Friday morning, the beggar was too drunk to make the phone call. The liquor spilled over his clothes ruining the card within.

THE END

[AMERICONORMAN]

It seems that the "Objectivist" is acting in a spirit of charity, which is not necessarily a waste of an act. Why is the vagrant even worthy of a job? A job is a big risk to give to a man over just some money. So, the good man wants to help the bad man. I suppose that it may just be a test on the part of the good man, his gesture out of confidence that the vagrant will indeed sabotage the making of that important and lucky phone call. But if the vagrant doesn't get drunk, and chooses to make that phone call, then he better be up to the job (whatever it may be), or the businessman will potentially be sacrificing the success of his own business so that the vagrant will have a job (so that he doesn't have to stay begging on the streets).

If you want the bumb to make the phone call, then you should plant in his early dialogue, something that will reveal his intelligence or ability, kind of like the Wetnurse at Rearden's Mills in Atlas Shrugged. And even if you don't have the bumb making the phone call, then you can have the businessman at the end of his night, with a sole glass of good scotch, on the phone with his secretary, asking whether any phone calls came in. And when the response is no, then the businessman's hope that just maybe the bumb will choose to change, will be finally lost.

"Another one bites the dust. Tomorrow: business as usual."

If you're going to offer a long-term job to the bumb, then he better have some virtues. And if the job offer is just a test to prove the bumb evil, and a guaranteed failure, then why bother showing such a scene that represents what most people think about bumbs anyway?

A more dramatic story is one where the bumb gets out of the gutter. Or one where he at least tries to make that phone call ... and perhaps some past criminal deed committed to get some past bottle of whisky, catches up with the bumb, and that is why he can't make the call. I think something like that will keep the interest of the reader more. The bumb has some potential, but his moral choices of the past doom him, and thus you show the consequences of his failure to uproot his demons that have led him to drinking.