It was a long and winding road that they travelled down, and the bus
was crowded.  The traveller sat, huddled in one corner, staring into his
laptop as he listened to the conversations around him.

   There were quite a few arguments and inane conversations going on.
Occasionally the bus driver would have to tell people to quiet down,
that they were disturbing the other riders.  But, in between those inane
conversations, there were some fascinating stories being told.  The
traveller found it easy to shut out the useless chatter and listen to
what he really wanted to hear.  Occasionally, he felt bold enough to
tell a story of his own.

   And, as each inane conversation popped up, the traveller reached out
and tapped the delete key on his laptop.  He didn't even pause to listen
to more than the first line of conversation.  There were too many
stories to hear, and not enough time to hear them all... why waste time
listening to an argument?

   A man, who looked quite lost, sat down next to him.  He began a
rambling monologue about the horrible conditions of the bus, and of the
road they were on.  Finally, he ended by saying,  "Why do I even
bother?"

   The traveller frowned.  "I'm sorry, sir, but didn't you just say
that a storyteller crafts a story for his own enjoyment and
betterment... for the joy it brings them?"

   The lost man nodded.  "It's true.  You tell stories for your own
pleasure, not because you're required to."

   "And yet, if you don't get positive feedback from your listeners,
you wonder why you even bothered.  Funny, that."

   The stranger shrugged.  He stared down at the mud-filled ruts in the
road.

   "This used to be a golden road," the lost man said.  "Now it's just
shit."

   "I hear that a lot," the traveller said.  "Funny that it doesn't
seem that way to me."

   "You're not looking down," the lost man said.

   "You got that right," the traveller replied.  He reached out to his
laptop and hit the delete key one more time....

<Applause>

Nice! This is the perfect counter to Lurker's rant, a little story with style.
Take notes people! This is how to win public opinion, Ranting is a good
example of how to lose it.

-Shade


*$*$*$*$*$*

 Nabiki stared at the screen, a look of 
horror on her face. "Our lives depend on  
Ranma proving that we're civilized enough 
to join a galactic society. We're doomed." 

-The Bet "Illegal Aliens in Nerima" 

"Could you please not eat my gun!" -Mihoshi

The girl smiled. "Welllll... Do you remember Yu-chan?"
        Ranma thought back to the days when he was a young scrapper.  "Yeah,
we used to play together, me an' Yu-cha--" Ranma's eyes bugged out with shock.
"Oh no! You aren't..."

 "SURPRISE!! It's me, Yu-chan!" the girl squealed.
 "YU-CHAN!!" Ranma's eyes bugged out. "Didn't I have         ANY male
childhood friends?!"

-Expansion Card v2.0

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