Back to Mr. X

Almost a year after our last encounter, I met again with Mr. X.

He's a short man with short black hair, 17 years old and with an average complexion. That surprised me, for the last time I saw him, he was quite overweight. He had lost 25 kilos, an accomplishment he seemed pretty proud of. However, he still disliked shaving lotion, what made his cheeks, specially the left one, seem as if they were now losing their skin after having been burned some time ago. He still retained his most peculiar physical characteristic, his long and thin ponytail, but other than that, he had a rather common appearance. I mean, his eyes were brown and such.

His physical appearance might now be pretty inconspicuous, but his personality was still quite peculiar. Although his behavior was now closer to what we deem socially acceptable, and could now trust and make deeper bonds with his friends, he still spent more time with books and computers than with people, and could more easily, not to mention more comfortably, explain why time goes faster as you approach the speed of light than why the hell did he had that expression in his face, or had reacted that way to that question.

Also, he was terribly absentminded, being easily capable of spending an entire class with his eyesight focused in an undefined point whilst he thought about who knows what, and he had those varyingly annoying nervous ticks. And, in this time where boomers like to relax by fear mongering about how ignorant the new generation is, the number of books in his bedroom was quite impressive, as was the amount of data in his brain, however useless it might be. And he had the strangest repertoire of music imaginable. And he liked politics and science. And he had no girlfriend, nor had he ever had any.

Still, he seemed happier now, and he was obviously leading a healthier lifestyle. A longer and happier life. Neat.

Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried*

In next year's spring I'll turn 18, and if the calendar supports me (it won't, as always), I'll be able to vote. In other countries you can vote at 16, but not in this one. But in other countries you vote and you still work 14 hours a day to earn a dollar, or you don't vote, or you starve whilst the "dear leader" spends millions on his new nooyukular toy, so I'm not complaining.

Am I excited about voting? Well, I'm part of the most prepared generation ever, and therefore disenchanted with democracy even before I vote, so excited is maybe too strong a word, but I do feel slightly motivated, and I do think my vote makes a difference.

Sure, it's just a 0.01% difference in the municipal level, a 0.0001% one in the autonomic one, a 0.000005% one in the Spanish and a 0.00000025% in the European, but unlike in other places, our governments somewhat carry out the mandate people place on them more than the one the markets, the churches or the military do, and it is my desire, no, my duty, not only to keep this so, but to improve it. And one of the ways to do that is to vote.

Finally, I believe that it is an indescribably hedonistic act of contempt to all the people who died to give us this right and to all the people who will inherit this planet from us not to vote.

So, to sum up, I’ll vote. You betcha.

For whom? That’s a secret.



*Quote stolen from Winston Churchill.