Chase
III
The others can hear rage slowly approaching. A conclave has been called. Arguments have been erupting throughout the collective. Some are for change, some for the status quo.
"We will begin momentarily. Kindly allow for the speaker to finish before chiming in. We will get nowhere if chaos ensues."
Wisdom had been invited as facilitator for the proceedings. The goal is to discuss the paradigm shift and what to do about it. Having begun, Wisdom stepped back from the highpoint to yield to the next speaker. There was a line to the left. Anyone was allowed to speak at the beginning of the gathering.
"Give me your attention. Please." As Anger begins to speak, the echos become muffled.
"Peter called me by name." At the statement, the crowd explodes in conversation.
"Please! Please!" No one is calm. No one is listening.
Wisdom stands and the assembly becomes quiet again. Anger continues:
"We cannot avoid change. Since it is inevitable, we must come to an agreement as to what to do about it. He must not have free reign. If he does, we will be spending the rest of our lives in this horrid place. I for one will not stand for it!"
A large portion of the crowd echoes in agreement. After a moment, Wisdom stands again. "May we hear from the opposed?"
From the left of the highpoint steps Compassion. "My friends and colleagues, we have an opportunity for growth. The fact that Peter called Anger by name tells me that he may soon get to know all of us and that this wretched place may soon be a thing of the past. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt." Once more the crowd erupts to cheers and jeers.
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"What is it about emotions that keeps you from experiencing them?"
"Better not to feel."
"Please elaborate."
"Dark yellow. Crouching. Trembling. Fear. I'm afraid that if I allow for it that I will lose control."
"Control of what?"
"For example, sometimes tears rise to the surface. If I let them flow, they may never stop. Better not to feel."
"What are you afraid of?"
"No man. If I choose, I could kill anyone. In highschool, when someone bigger than I choose to put his hand on my french fries, I grabbed him by the collar and smashed his face into my lunch. Everyone saw it. Everyone laughed. He fell to the floor and I strolled away. My fear is more of myself, I guess. Losing control of myself."
"When was the last time that you got into a fight?"
"A little more than a decade ago. I used to be part of a threesome. He became angry at me because the girl wasn't sure who's baby she was carrying. He was six-two, two-hundred and thirty pounds. I, well, as you can see, I'm a small man. Five-four. At the time, I weighed a hundred and thirty pounds. When he charged at me, I was sitting on the windowsill of an open window. As he came at me, I stepped forward, crouched low and, using his own momentum, I slammed his against the wall. By shutting off my emotions and going into problem-solving mode, I was able to aim him just right of the window. I didn't have to kill him, so I didn't."
More than a decade ago. How will the supervisor react to that statement?
"I have never been the aggressor. Every fight that I have been in, it's always been the other guy that has started it. I 'feel' the need to clarify that, so that you don't walk away thinking that I am a harm to anyone."
"Thank you for that, Mister Chase."
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"During one of his dreams we could torment him. Make him believe that he's losing his mind. Once he's out of society, we will have won!"
"This is not us versus him. We are a part of him. We should learn from the experience!"
Anger and Compassion argue both sides of the issue. The crowd is becoming unmanageable. Wisdom gets up and begins to leave. The dark-place becoming pitch...