19 On Apathy

Then a career councilor said, Speak to us of apathy.
And he answered:
Later.

And the councilor said, Speak to us of apathy, not of procrastination.
And he said:
Don’t want to. Don’t care.

And a heckler spoke:
That’s lame.

And someone else shouted:
I think you’re the one who’s lame.
Whereupon a scuffle began to erupt. Someone pulled someone’s ear and another began to tug at her neighbor’s hair.

And the heckler heckled:
Come on. You gotta say this is lame.

And an honest soul now replied in place of the prophet:
What would you say, if I told you that through this, which you call lame, I have just now regained my will to live?

This silenced the stunned crowd, and those who had been tugging at hair and ears bowed their heads in shame. And quietly, under his breath, the heckler mumbled:
Will you listen to this pap?
But he did not leave.