{"id":84,"date":"2007-11-22T11:14:20","date_gmt":"2007-11-22T11:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/?p=84"},"modified":"2007-11-22T11:14:20","modified_gmt":"2007-11-22T11:14:20","slug":"paragons-people-10-of-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/?p=84","title":{"rendered":"Paragon’s People (10 of 11)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The student couldn\u2019t bear the repeated clicking of the remote \u2013 the thinker had kept channel surfing for the last hour, as if trying to prise out some truth of this strange and, frankly, unbelievable turn of events.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018PRESIDENT RESIGNS\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The President\u2019s chin and calm, friendly white teeth smile filled the screen as his recorded address calmly explained his reasons for standing down and handing the reins over to the Vice-President. Talking heads droned over him, as usual adding nothing to the reported news, but subtracting everything they could to bolster their own celebrity status.<\/p>\n

\u2018God fucking dammit,\u2019 the thinker said. \u2018God fucking damn this fucking fuck thing to hell.\u2019 He threw the remote across the room. \u2018Fuck!\u2019<\/p>\n

The thinker wasn\u2019t the only one feeling wronged<\/em> somehow. The student felt like he\u2019d taken a punch to the gut, all his fire and plans \u2013 pissed on by this second-shit preacher whose chiselled jaw bulged with ingratiating smiles. It just didn\u2019t make any sense to throw away all that power, not now.<\/p>\n

The athlete said, \u2018I don\u2019t believe this.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Oh will you change the record,\u2019 said the musician, trying to straighten out some wrinkles in her top; her rainbow didn’t seem to be smiling any more. \u2018None of us believes it.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018No, I mean it. I really don\u2019t believe this. Is this for real? This kind of thing is, well, unprecedented, totally.\u2019 He pronounced it unpree<\/em>cedented. \u2018He was a popular guy. We were underdogs.\u2019<\/p>\n

The thinker growled. \u2018That\u2019s the problem! The face is changing but his plans are still in motion. Now try getting people on our side. They\u2019ll all say, well, look the guy you\u2019re worried about is no longer in power, so take a chill fucking pill, man.\u2019<\/p>\n

The student got up to leave. He wasn\u2019t even sure he<\/em> believed there was anything worth fighting for either. More than a face had changed. The Vice-President wasn\u2019t the same man at all. The student remembered him squirming when facing some questions on the CNN over the British fallout from the ethical signatures, the sweat resting on his brow.<\/p>\n

\u2018Where are you scooting off too?\u2019 said the poet, who had remained fairly quiet throughout the news. His only discernable reaction was the act of folding his arms.<\/p>\n

\u2018Campus,\u2019 the student replied. \u2018I can\u2019t sit here and watch this crap all night. We\u2019re supposed to talk about how we change things for the better. Things are changing faster than we can bloody talk about changing them. I can watch TV anywhere.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t believe this,\u2019 said the athlete.<\/p>\n

The student\u2019s girlfriend, looking shell-shocked by events, stood up too. \u2018Yeah, let\u2019s go. I need to shake my head of this.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019ll still meet up, guys, right?\u2019 said the thinker, desperation seeping in. \u2018There\u2019s still the cause, right?\u2019 He raised his fist in a distant, weak echo of the student\u2019s bolder thrust earlier.<\/p>\n

\u2018Whatever,\u2019 the student said. \u2018You have to fight for something real.\u2019 He pointed at the TV bearing smiling white teeth that bobbed and weaved in slow motion. \u2018He isn\u2019t real any more. I\u2019ll come back if you have something to fight for.\u2019<\/p>\n

He gazed at each one of his compadres, and noticed the only person who was pleased was the cop’s daughter, the first smile he’d seen on her face since attending these meetings. She was the only genuine one here, her only goal to change how things were. And things had changed and she was happy with that. An honest challenger with no ego invested. He saw that everybody wanted to change things because they simply wanted to reshape life to suit themselves and to hell with other people: a mere excuse for narcissism.<\/p>\n

Perhaps he should be happy too but his map of personal destiny was in tatters. Bliss’ attentions had prodded him forward inch by inch, and now he was in the middle of nowhere, falling into an unmarked pit, waiting for the bottom to claim him. Suddenly – he was alone.<\/p>\n

The student left the thinker’s apartment, with his girlfriend in tow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The student couldn\u2019t bear the repeated clicking of the remote \u2013 the thinker had kept channel surfing for the last hour, as if trying to prise out some truth of this strange and, frankly, unbelievable turn of events. \u2018PRESIDENT RESIGNS\u2019 The President\u2019s chin and calm, friendly white teeth smile filled the screen as his recorded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}