Occupy Ship

There once was a large ship call The United States. This ship had many decks, and many people worked on the ship. When they all worked together, the ship ran well.

There were lots of different jobs on the ship. There were people who shoveled coal into the furnace to fuel the ship. There were people who navigated the waters to make sure the ship didn't hit anything like icebergs or penguins. And, of course, there was the Command Deck where all the decisions were made, called The Government. People could move around from one position to another position on the ship and see what they liked best. Some jobs paid better than other jobs. Some jobs were more fulfilling than others. Some people worked because they had to. Some people worked because they really enjoyed it. Some people worked to better themselves. Some people worked to better The United States ship.

As crew members of the ship, there were certain services that were needed to make sure they could all do their jobs effectively and live. All crew members were fed. All crew members were clothed. All crew members were given training. For these services, as well as others, each crew member had to pay a fee. Each service was paid for by the collection of fees from each crew member. Fees from all crew members were collected to form a more perfect union, provide for the common defense, and promote the general welfare. Sure, it was based on a kind of socialism, where the social good was taken care of by the members of that social group. And yes, it was based on a kind of communism, where the communal concerns were taken care of by the members of that community. But because those were bad words that the members of The United States ship didn't like, they called their system something different. And nobody was given health care, because health care provided by somebody who isn't dedicated to making sure your health is taken care of was widely believed to be the best way. And if anybody said anything different, they were called Socialists and Communists, because those were bad words.

Some of those in control of the treasury of the ship decided they didn't want to pay the fees of the ship. Actually, nobody really wanted to pay the fees. Everybody wanted to get something for nothing. But the people from The Treasury decided they would go to The Government and tell them that they could not pay fees like the rest of the ship, The Government would receive extra money from them. The Government said no, because this wouldn't be fair.

So the people from The Treasury decided to change jobs, and they switched from working in The Treasury to working in The Government... but they didn't really change. All they wanted to do was to make sure they didn't have to pay fees like the rest of the ship. And when they started to work in The Government, they found there were other ways they could make more money in other ways besides not paying fees. They found that the group of people who transported the coal from the loading dock to the fuel room were in a kind of Union, and this kind of Union had agreed that what they were getting paid was a fair wage, and the amount of time each day they were working was good and no children should be allowed to work this job. This was costing the Treasury Government money, because they could hire Filipino children to work for pennies a day, and a day could consist of 20 hours of work, whereas the Union said a day was 8 hours. So the Treasury Government let all the Union workers go and hired Filipino children to work for them. Then they cut the pay for those who were providing training for the crew of the United States ship so that the members of the crew would become dumb and not learn to think for themselves. And they continued to hire people from The Treasury to work in The Government so that new rules could be passed to make things better for The Treasury. And they made sure that people from The Treasury worked in the News Center, where the crew received it's news, so that the crew would be told that these changes, which really only benefited those from The Treasury, were best for The United States ship and the crew. And because the crew was not properly trained to think, they didn't question. And they didn't speak up. And the members of The Treasury continued to promote themselves on the backs of the rest of the crew.

While this was good for The Treasury, the rest of The United States ship suffered. Trainers weren't paid enough, were overloaded with too many people to train at one time, weren't given the right tools to train people. They were told what to train and how to train by members of The Treasury Government, many of whom were also members of the loud and crazy Chapel. Members of the crew couldn't find any work because The Treasury Government had brought in Filipino child labor and had slashed funding for jobs. And life on The United States Ship became increasingly unbearable for many of it's crew.

Many of those crew members took a look around and saw what was going on. The reality of the situation on The United States ship Occupied their minds, and they spoke up. "This isn't right," they said. And the members of The Treasury News said, "We don't know what they're saying." "This isn't right," said the Occupied Crew. And people from The Treasury Government said, "They don't know what they're talking about." "This isn't right!" screamed the Occupied Crew. And the members of The Treasury paid the Police to pepper spray anyone speaking up. The members of The Occupied Crew then shouted, "We're speaking for all of you! This isn't right!"

And many of the members of the crew didn't understand what was going on. Some of them didn't feel the weight that had been placed upon them by The Treasury. Some of them weren't as affected as others. Some of them knew what was going on, but didn't want to be pepper sprayed. Many of them hadn't been trained to think. Many of them didn't have the time or the patience to actually pay attention to what was going on around them. Besides, The (Treasury) News said that everything was okay, so everything must be okay. And for those members of the crew, they insisted that the members of The Occupied Crew weren't speaking for them. And they didn't want to be lumped into a group with people who were being pepper sprayed.

Then one guy stood up and said the following:

Your mouths are being closed by the forces around you. If you don't open them now, you won't be able to open them later. No one is forcing you to speak up, but please don't force the rest of us to shut up. We're speaking now so that you will have the ability to speak when you feel the weight of the repression being imposed upon you. We are fighting for you, even if you decide to remain asleep. I will continue to stand up and speak in all ways that I can even though you say that you don't agree with me. I am fighting for you to disagree with me, because if I don't fight now, you won't have a choice later.