THE GOOD WORD ACCORDING TO · THE ULTRA-HARRIER
WILLIE
The tree of manOne of the greatest things about life
Chapter 13
By the same token, all of you are also of the tree of man,
2Which can’t have escaped your attention completely.
3When I first spoke to you, you did not reply to me with words of peace and love,
4hBut you threatened me with physical injury,
5iBecause I looked different from you, and do not smell bad,
6jAnd are only listening to me now because I brought plenty of Angels with me.
7kAnd if I were to ask which of you would lay down his life for all the Others you love so much, you would look at each other and slink away,
8Because you can hide nothing from me.
9For I am Harry, and I know you better than you know yourselves,
10Because I am just like you,
11Only a lot smarter.
12For example, I know what your lparents and your teachers and your politicians do not,
13Which is that your ideals are as thin as tissue paper,
14And even more transparent.
15You have been born and raised in the Most Chosen Nation on Earth,
16And from the moment of your birth, you have always had your own way,
17And everything else you wanted,
18Because your parents were born into a time of afamine,
19And they wanted you to have more than they did,
20And so they gave it to you,
21Just like bmy parents gave me everything I ever wanted.
22And you grew up watching TV,
23cWhere you learned that every problem anyone ever had could be figured out in just twenty-two minutes,
24And there was no such thing as a problem that could not be solved,
25Because this is America,
26And you were born Americans,
27And Americans always get their own way,
28dAnd always win.
29But then you got to be eighteen years old,
30And suddenly America asked you to do something it wanted,
31But you didn’t want to,
32Because who wants to die for a bunch of creepy little egooks in some faraway jungle,
33When you could be at home having fun,
34And getting flaid,
35And having geverything you ever wanted?
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Chapter 13 / 78