It wasn’t always this easy. You see these pricks walking by, wonder what they are thinking, whose banging who at the end of the night. Because that’s what it all comes down to, isn’t it? When you’re turning in for the night, whoever you’re laying next to is the one you apparently like. But that’s assuming you are laying next to someone, in which case, its your last thought which haunts you. That last thought, that’s what you live for. That is what you are all about, whether you like it or not.

You weren’t always like this. This is what you think to yourself as you cram another bite of Junior Whopper into your mouth. You watch a petite woman named Camille wipe down a table. You know her name because you asked her. You asked her because she wasn’t wearing a name tag. First-name basis is an important step in becoming a productive member of society. She wipes with elaborate strokes, moving the food particles toward her. She pauses to rub her forehead, then looks over at you. You have been caught staring at her. She says nothing and moves to the next table. You look around. A fat man with a minuscule amount of hair is behind the register glaring at you. You are the only customer in the restaurant at that moment. He has been eyeing you for awhile. People are good at filtering out pricks and keeping their eyes on them. It is a natural part of the human process. We long to live in a prick-free society, yet pricks are a natural part of life, and life will always persist throughout the pricks.

At the Tuesday meeting, you discuss the Burger King incident. Wilbur feels that you should have been more social, engaged yourself in conversation with the employees. Silence is one form of rudeness, and people often think of silent people as snobs, and snobs equal pricks. Rosa raises her hand. She is on step five in the recovery process. She wants to know what to do if you don’t feel like talking that day. You talk anyway, says Wilbur. People need to know that they are fascinating, and talking to them is a way to alert them of that. In this life, it is important to stroke egos and smile at assholes.

Rosa doesn’t talk much at any of the meetings. Wilbur is about to label her a lost cause. You can see it in his face, and you can hear it in the way he raises his voice to a higher pitch when responding to her questions. There is a great difficulty in speaking to people who do not see you as someone who will ever amount to anything. One of your professors told you that the biggest challenge in life is to overcome the obstacle of obsessing over what everyone on Earth thinks of you. We all start as an embryo, where it goes from there is our own choice.