“It’s the God dang government I tell you, they don’t want to do anything to change the situation. All of them are so focused on exploiting us and the country that they forget to do their job.”

“If they get their head out of their asses, they may at least see what is going on in the rest of the world, but they insist on acting like senseless animals.”

Phil and Jackson often came into the pub in the afternoons, especially since their jobs as construction workers were dissolved. The temperature outside had reached forty eight degrees and the owners were losing more money trying to keep the labourers alive than they would have ever made because of the oppressive heat. They decided to pull out completely from their projects. This had led them both to be unemployed and counting their last bills. The two of them were seated in a lowly town pub, it was a sunny afternoon and owing to the environment, there were not a lot of people in the pub. Marty, the bartender was serving them their pints which they were downing as soon as he furnished them with one. There were just two more people besides them seated in the pub. A young girl who looked haggard and frail, and a gentleman seated behind them writing something in his notebook, while paying close attention to the conversation of the two men.

Marty interjected,

“They don’ want help us either, the ones who ain’t got enough to feed our kids. They just keep asking for time, and we keep on waitin’. Ain’t no way in hell anything is gonna change.”

Phil nodded in agreement, while raising his mug up for a refill,

“They want to keep all the perks and make the common man endure hardships. Ever since the whole thing started, they have been saying the same goddamn thing.”

Phil got up from his seat and stood up on the counter. Marty chuckled and moved back.

Trying to impersonate the President, Norman Edwards, he held the karaoke mic to his mouth and held his chest high and stood tall. When he spoke, his voice echoed through the pub,

“Americans, we are all in this together. We will fight this together, all of us in the way that we can. I plead with you to not waste water. In fact, just don’t drink water. We are low on food as well because the crops aren’t good this year as well, so please ration your supplies. Or rather, don’t eat at all. We will give aid to anyone who is in need. But apparently, there seems to be no one in need,”

Phil looks around the room hoping for a laugh. The young girl looked at him then turned her face around and covered her ears. Marty cheered him on,

“Houston is underwater, and we tried our best to save the people, but alas, we forgot to send help!”

The man sitting behind them had a noticeable reaction at the comment, but he chose to remain silent. He had been taking notes scribbling down his anger at the two men, but he was far too afraid to challenge two buff, drunk and angry men. He was shocked by how much they fabricated the stories for their own satisfaction. He remembered the Houston floods, and he remembered the event very vividly. Nationwide support had taken place for the disaster and no one had contributed anything, for there was so less that they couldn’t give. The government had done all they could for it. Nevertheless, tens of thousands of people had died and that was what all the news channels were focused on.

“And can I even mention the countless famines where we have done absolutely nothing for the people. In fact, we are too comfortable here at the White House, eating out of Gold plates and wiping our asses with hundred dollar bills. Why can’t the rest of you just stop suffering?”

With that final word, he stepped down from the counter and fell upon his seat. Phil’s ‘heroic’ impression made Jackson decide to enter the conversation.

“But Phil, you gotta look at it this way man, they are doing all they can as well. They don’t have a miracle cure to fix the world either. If we want to save the world, it is upto each of us to act our part.”

Phil and Marty were used to Jackson coming to the defence of the Government in most of their arguments and they always broke his defences by asking one question.

“Then why do they live in mansions and eat rich food while we don’t make enough to eat in a day?”

Jackson was never able to answer that question. It’s not like he liked the government and the politicians either. He was hopeful however, that it would change and the only way that change would come was through the government, he believed. It made sense to him, why did they prospered while everyone else suffered? The world had gone through a lot due to climate change. The global temperatures had risen by 10 degrees, causing the sea level to rise at an enormous rate. It had caused many species of animals to go extinct. The emission of greenhouse gases and CFC’s had caused holes all over the ozone layer, causing a risk of skin cancer to anyone who ventured outside. What scientists and environmentalists had been warning the world about for decades became a reality overnight (or so it seemed) and the world had turned more and more into a wasteland. Many people had lost their livelihoods overnight and had become prime believers in,

‘It’s every man for himself.’

Who could blame them? It’s not like it was their fault that it happened so why should they care to try and fix it? So far as they knew all that mattered was to survive and to live another day. So they returned back to making short term gains and exploiting the already damaged ecosystem for personal gain. It seemed like the ruling bodies had lost all their power, for people no longer cared. It was every man for himself.

The man behind them stood up and went up to the counter. He asked Marty to switch on the television, for the President was giving a speech. Marty chuckled and obliged.

The broken down pub was old and dusty, and it looked unfit to be called one. There was one shelf lined up with bottles of liquor behind Marty which was his prized collection, but everything else in the bar looked like it wasn’t cared for. There were cobwebs hanging from the ceiling and the lights were all non functional. There were only three proper tables where people had the opportunity to sit, but he never had to cater for more. He made some money here and there, but he gave Phil and Jackson free drinks for they were loyal customers and listened to him complain about his woes for hours on end. It didn’t look like Marty cared about living much longer, just to make the most of the current moment.

Presently the static from the screen cleared and a picture came into view. A young man dressed in a black suit jacket and a blue tie appeared. He had a rose in his front pocket, and he looked like he needed some sleep, But his eyes glowed bright, an oddity in the current world. He managed to look excited, even, for the future.

It was not Norman Edwards who had appeared on screen but a young unknown man. He was in fact the illegitimate son of Norman, who the world did not know about. He was young and bashful, and he was the last hope that the Government had to convince the people that all was not lost, that together they still stood a chance. Everyone seemed to realise it, and the atmosphere in the pub for once, was not of hostility or prejudice, but of hope and all of them had their eyes glued onto the screen.

The man spoke in an authoritative voice,

“It may surprise you to see me here in the place of President Norman giving the speech, but I am sad to inform you that the President has resigned from his post and no longer wishes to act in the political arena.”

Jackson and Phil cheered, and raised their mugs,

“I say amen to that!” said Marty as he put his bottle to his mouth and emptied it clean.

“In fact, no one seemed to want to replace him. For context here, let me remind you that President Norman was often sent death threats by the people and his family feared for their safety. Can one forget the shame that we sent our country’s way when we pelted the procession with rocks as they tried to share their  solutions?”

Phil laughed loudly. He had been one of the people who had been a part of the rebellion of the people, or in this case mischief. He didn’t really know what the procession was about but he did know it would be fun to shame it. Someone had told him that a lot of people had decided to ruin it, so he decided to go as well. Who could miss a chance to make the rich suffer like they did?

“Before I tell you what I propose to do let me first tell you who I am. I am Darwin Norman, the President’s illegitimate son, yes a bastard. But there is one thing that sets me apart from any of the other candidates for the President’s post. I have been born into this world and I wasn’t a part of the generation that destroyed it. I know how many of you feel, that it isn’t your fault. And I agree, we were born into death if that makes any sense. But I am not here to talk about how unfair it is for us, because we damn well already know that….”

This was a different kind of speech the people were used to. They were used to the leaders asking for sacrifices and demanding everyone to work together. They had never seen one come up on national television and curse his luck. They found it easier to side with someone who thought the same way they did, but their experiences made them search for a reason to hate the man.

“…let me share a personal story of mine. My mom died when I was thirteen, and I had noone who looked after me. We used to live with a wealthy couple where my mother used to work as a housemaid. But without my mother, they didn’t see any use for me so they threw me out. I was miserable and angry at the world. How could it do this to me? I often cried. Why me? I used to question life why I had to suffer like this. What had I done wrong. But I found, no matter how much I cried and grumbled, I never got any answers. In fact, not only did things not improve, they got worse! Eventually, I had to stop crying, get up on my feet and find a way to survive. It didn’t matter if it was my fault or not, it didn’t matter why I had to face this, all that mattered was what I did about it.

Victor E.Frankl had said

The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance.

How fitting it is to our situation. Look at it this way, if we don’t take action right now, the people who come after us will have no water to drink, no food to eat, no air to breathe and no land to live in. Do we want to be responsible for that?”

As he said that, he stared right into the camera. To anyone watching, it seemed like he was staring right into your soul. All of his pain, accumulated into one glance. A pleading look to the Americans, to listen to him. It was hard for one not to be moved by him.

“I know how you all feel, and I understand. But we are all in this together. If one person does wrong, all of us suffer. Isn’t it our interdependence that sets us apart as a species. How we can act as one united being, to be all together towards one common goal? To put our beliefs aside and to believe in one thing - Humanity.”

“He talks too much for my liking,” said Marty from behind the bar, “…get to the point you nuisance!” He spoke like he could talk to him through the television set.

“The solution is simple, but tough. But I know how you think, remember, for I am one of you. Before I ask anyone to make any sacrifices, it will be me who will make sacrifices. All I ask you to is to follow suit, and save the world.”

“He read your mind it seems, Marty.” said Phil, who was not convinced.

The man who had been silent for so long got up and spoke finally,

“He is a brave man indeed.”

“Here is what I vow to do. I vow to eat as much as we give ration for the poor. I vow to drink one glass of water in a day. I vow to not take my salary and in fact use it, to help the world. I vow to walk instead of drive and I vow to not even think about harming our Earth.”

They had no reason to complain now. All they could say was,

Phil, Jackson and Marty screamed in conjunction,

“How do we know for sure ,how do we know you are not lying?”

“The only thing that’s left is what you decide to do. I am not forcing you to do anything. There are no bans and no penalisations. I have told you what I am going to do, I have left everything else in your hands, each one of you, its upto you to make the right decision.”

Those were the last words he spoke before the screen turned blank and then returned to static again. There was a brave silence in the room. The tension was palpable, like a bomb would be set off if one was to break the silence. After the speech, it felt like an invisible string went around all of them, tying them together. Never had they been faced with a decision like this. They had no one to blame, but themselves. They couldn’t complain for there was nothing they could complain about, they could do anything they wanted. They felt a sudden loss in themselves, and all of them suddenly felt a growing need to speak out loud.

The man spoke first.

“I agree. President Darwin is right. It is upto each and every one of us. We have been acting too irrationally for far too long. It’s high time we change that.”

He would not have raised his voice if he wasn’t sure that everyone else would be in agreement with him. Surely, they thought the same way?

Phil got up from his seat and shook his head drunkenly. He had not had a good day, in fact it had been a pretty terrible year, and he was sick of people telling him what to do. The new President pissed him off. His arrogance and his know it all attitude. He was not one of them, he didn’t understand how hard it was. Phil needed to let his anger out and the man had given him a great opportunity.

“So you love to let anyone tell you what to do huh? How do you know that he is not lying? How do you know that they will actually change? What do you think that everything will be fine because Golden Boy said it will be? What do you know about losing anything?”

He walked towards the man. The man was filled with fear, of being beaten up, but there was a fear that was greater than that. A fear of sitting down and not standing up for his beliefs. He didn’t know what was worse any more. He decided that he had had enough.

“You say that to everyone who asks you to do anything, don’t you? It’s because of people like you that the world doesn’t improve. Oh ask me to do anything, but don’t ask me to do anything. I am not ready to do anything myself actually, because I am far too busy feeling sorry for myself.”

He felt a sigh of relief when he said that, a growing hunger in his stomach that had finally subsided when he said that. He knew that he had put himself in danger by saying that.

Phil’s rage was out of bounds now.

“You son of a bitch!”

He knew nothing besides his anger now and it slowly consumed him as he kicked the man down. The world went black.

Many days later

The world had gone into a state of anarchy since the new President’s announcement. The Environmental problems went into the background as a lack of law and order made people loot and kill. Nobody stopped them but it was apparent that it couldn’t continue for long.

President Darwin was in his office massaging his temple. He sat by the wooden fire and had a book in his lap, He knew about the public’s reaction to his speech, and it was not one he had expected. He had never thought that they would choose that option.

His wife walked into the room, and his attention went to her. He looked at her and felt it as he said it,

“It’s like we not only deserve to die but also want to….”