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c087b9d "Why aren't you in school? I see you every day wandering around." "Oh, they don't miss me," she said. "I'm antisocial, they say. I don't mix. It's so strange. I'm very social indeed. It all depends on what you mean by social, doesn't it? Social to me means talking to you about things like this." She rattled some chestnuts that had fallen off the tree in the front yard. "Or talking about how strange the world is. Being with people is nice. But I don't think it's social to get a bunch of people together and then not let them talk, do you? An hour of TV class, an hour of basketball or baseball or running, another hour of transcription history or painting pictures, and more sports, but do you know, we never ask questions, or at least most don't; they just run the answers at you, bing, bing, bing, and us sitting there for four more hours of film-teacher. That's not social to me at all. It's a lot of funnels and lot of water poured down the spout and out the bottom, and them telling us it's wine when it's not. They run us so ragged by the end of the day we can't do anything but go to bed or head for a Fun Park to bully people around, break windowpanes in the Window Smasher place or wreck cars in the Car Wrecker place with the big steel ball. Or go out in the cars and race on the streets, trying to see how close you can get to lampposts, playing 'chicken' and 'knock hubcaps.' I guess I'm everything they say I am, all right. I haven't any friends. That's supposed to prove I'm abnormal. But everyone I know is either shouting or dancing around like wild or beating up one another. Do you notice how people hurt each other nowadays?" antisocial bullying conform hurt lies loneliness peer-pressure school social society wandering Ray Bradbury
ae0a77a Plants are more courageous than almost all human beings: an orange tree would rather die than produce lemons, whereas instead of dying the average person would rather be someone they are not. act acting actor actors adage adages animal animals aphorism aphorisms audacity axiom axioms balls be-yourself boldness brave bravery cojones conform conforming conformity courage courageous courageousness daring dead death deep dictum dictums die epigram epigrams facade façades fear fearful fearlessness fit-in fitting-in fruit fruits gallantry gnome gnomes grit guts hardihood heroism herself himself human human-being human-beings humans humor humour insightful inspiration inspirational inspire inspired intrepidity kill killed lemon lemons made-me-think make-you-think maxim maxims motivated motivational motive moxie murder murdered nerve nonconformity oneself orange people peoples person persons plant plants pluck pluckiness pretend pretender pretenders pretending produce profound proverb proverbs provoke-thought quotation quotations quote quotes satire satirical saying sayings self spunk standing-out standout themselves thought-provoking thoughtful tree trees true-grit valour words-to-live-by yourself Mokokoma Mokhonoana
ad7788f With school turning out more runners, jumpers, racers, tinkerers, grabbers, snatchers, fliers, and swimmers instead of examiners, critics, knowers, and imaginative creators, the word 'intellectual,' of course, became the swear word it deserved to be. You always dread the unfamiliar. Surely you remember the boy in your own school class who was exceptionally 'bright,' did most of the reciting and answering while the others sat like so many leaden idols, hating him. And wasn't it this bright boy you selected and tortured after hours? Of course it was. We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves again. So! A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man's mind. Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man? Me? books breach bright bullying burning conform constitution cowardice creativity critics different dread education equality examiners fliers free grabbers happiness image imagination imaginative-creators intellectual intelligence judge judgment jumpers knowers mind moutains racers rights runners school snatchers swimmers target tinkerers torture unfamiliar weapons Ray Bradbury