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He told me once, at seventeen, in my parents' attic, that he would be a star, remake the world in his own image, forge his life by his own hand with his own tools. It would all happen, he assured me, through his own will and determination. Other people were unnecessary; fate, destiny, karma and bad luck only existed in the heads of losers, not for him. He was exempt. Nothing could stop him. He declared himself invincible, (he had been reading Ayn Rand) and smiled patronizingly at my own pathetic hippie lack of ambition. Now, forty years gone, divorced, broke and unemployed, he bums a cigarette and whines about the economy. Apparently the world had other plans. - mce
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Apr 3, 2015
Apr 3, 2015 at 10:18 PM UTC
On Meeting A High School Acquaintance After 40 Years
He told me once, at seventeen, in my parents' attic, that he would be a star, remake the world in his own image, forge his life by his own hand with his own tools. It would all happen, he assured me, through his own will and determination. Other people were unnecessary; fate, destiny, karma and bad luck only existed in the heads of losers, not for him. He was exempt. Nothing could stop him. He declared himself invincible, (he had been reading Ayn Rand) and smiled patronizingly at my own pathetic hippie lack of ambition. Now, forty years gone, divorced, broke and unemployed, he bums a cigarette and whines about the economy. Apparently the world had other plans. - mce
mike-essig
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Apr 3, 2015
Apr 3, 2015 at 10:18 PM UTC
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