A Man Walks Into a Police Station

A man walks into a police station.

"Can I help you sir?"

"I would like to file a grievance."

"A what?"

"A petition for redress."

"You mean a complaint?"

"I have been robbed."

"When? Where? Of what?"

"When, you inquire. The response is, at present. Where? Everywhere. Of what? My right to exist free of usurpations, without constraint, able to reside within the confines of this jurisdiction free from enslavement of the mind and bondage of the soul."

"Excuse me."

"He has pilfered that which cannot be seen but which is sacred. He has stolen my sleep, wounded my heart, taken from me my calm and replaced it with a heartache, a sadness as I gaze out on a land which I do not comprehend, foreign to my nature and anathema to all sentient beings."

"I don't understand. Sir, have you been hurt? Can you give me a list of what you lost?"

"Have I been hurt, you ask. Not merely I, but you, the person who sits beside you, the man down the road, your wife, your children, each of those among us has sustained grievous damage. And you ask what has been lost. For many, it is the capacity to reason, to reach conclusion based on the ability to distinguish wheat from chaff, to differentiate real from fiction, true from false, up from down. For others, it is the right to exist without fear or trepidation, without question or concern, without worry or want. For me and many who are similar, it is that comprehension of our universe has been stripped away with malice aforethought. We no more reside in peace but open our eyes each morn in sorrow, in conflict with that which is thrust upon us, heavy and burdened by the damning that is constant, a cacophony of screams and screeches, noise unequivocally intended to cause harm to the eyes and the ears. We are infected by a disease that eats away at the very fabric of those within its orbit. That is headed directly for our collective soul."

"Sir, it does not appear that there is anything I can do to assist you."

"This cannot be. For if we do not take cause against evil, against all we abhor, that stands as testament not to our greatness but rather diminishes us with each second it moves forward uncontested, unchallenged, then we became ever smaller, ever weaker until one day soon we shall fail to exist. You are the law, you are the bastion that we rely upon to bring down the wicked, to restore us, to give us reason to believe, to sustain us and bring us the tranquility we seek. If you fail to comprehend that which has been stolen then all has indeed been lost."

"I am sorry sir but I cannot help you. You must leave now."

"I can not. I will not. I must register my dismay officially. There is madness in the air sir but it is not mine. There is a cause that cries out for action, a wrong that demands a right. There is still a flame that burns, a fire that cannot be extinguished. We are better than the worst of our lot. Stronger than you might perceive. We will not be denied. We will not be dismissed. No sir, I am going nowhere until my grievance is given its due, until my words are yours. Not merely yours but that of the person beside you, of your wife, your children, of all those who have lost something most precious. Most valuable. There has been a robbery. An assault. We have lost our good name. We have lost our way. No sir, I will not leave. I will not now, not ever abandon my post."

A second man walks into a police station.