Snippet

"This culture is so frustrating to me," Isaac said, fiddling with his straw. "There's so much that's wrong, I don't know where to start. So I just do nothing."

Corey took a massive bite of the double patty, extra cheeze bit-a-burger hamburger special, and after chewing contemplatively for a few moments said, mouth still half full, "Well, your apathy is an understandable emotional reaction. This society uh ... does not live up to my own high standards either." He wiped the grease off of his mouth delicately. "But it's not a reasonable one."

Isaac, making an obnoxious sucking sound through his nearly empty soda, "Why not? I can't do anything about it."

Corey sat back, pushing the other half of the burger away with some regret and some relief. "Well, that attitude precludes any possibility of change. You may not overturn the system, but actions yields results and results have consequences that ripples outwards. Apathy tells you that it is better to do nothing than to try and it's a lie that your feelings made up about your situation."

"I hate that," said Isaac, standing up to throw away his garbage, forehead wrinkled in irritation.

"That's an understandable emotional response," said Corey, that faint, infuriating smile back on his smug little face. "But apathy is a bet against yourself and your ability to change both yourself and your situation. It assumes you are so inconsequential that doing nothing is the exactly same as doing something." He paused, and melodramatically placed his hand on Issac's shoulder, looking him steadily in the eye, "This is a bet I would never make for you or anyone."

Isaac paused, thinking it over. "... I hate that less," he finally said.

Corey opened the door, and for a moment the forced cartoon cheerfulness of the Bit-a-Burger contrasted sharply with the bleak streets of Storm City. "As do I!" he said.

They walked out together, thinking new thoughts.