The Parable of the Protesting Students

One day while teaching, Josh was asked, ”Teacher, on the anniversary of the beginning of the Salem Witch Trials, I wonder, why does scandal mongering still trump governing?”

Josh spoke thus:

Two students joined a student protest.

“It’s an outrage!” the crowd chanted.

“It’s an outrage!” the two students chanted.

Government troops on horseback began to gather at the edges of the crowds.

“They’ve sent government troops!” someone in the crowd shouted.  A new chant arose.

“You can ride your horses, but you can’t ride us!” the crowd began to chant, “You can ride your horses, but you can’t ride us!”

“That makes no sense,” one of the two students said to the other.

“It doesn’t have to make sense,” the second student said, “It just has to be angry.”

“Won’t that make the government troops angry?” the first student asked.

“If we’re lucky,” the second student said.

The government troops had completely encircled the crowd.

“Disband now,” a government officer told the crowd, “Or we will charge.”

“We can’t disband!” someone called out from the crowd, “You have us surrounded!”

The crowd took up the chant.

“We can’t disband, you’ve got us surrounded!” the crowd chanted, “We can’t disband, you’ve got us surrounded!”

“This is not a joke!” the government officer said, “I’m giving you a chance to leave.”

“This is not a joke!” the crowd chanted, “We have a chance to leave!”

“Don’t you even want to know why we’re protesting?” someone in the crowd shouted.

“I don’t care why you’re protesting,” the government officer said, “I just care that you disperse.”

“That’s the problem with the government!” someone else from the crowd shouted, “They don’t care what we think!”

“All right,” the government officer said, “Just for the sake of argument, why are you protesting?  What is it you want?”

“What do we want?” someone from the crowd shouted, “When do we want it?”

“The crowd took up the chant.

“What do we want?” the crowd chanted, “When do we want it?”

The crowd broke in half.

“What do we want?” half the crowd chanted.

“When do we want it?” the other half answered.

“What do we want?” the first half chanted.

“When to we want it?” the second half chanted.

The back and forth continued.

The government officer turned to his lieutenant and rolled his eyes.

“Bloody students,” the government officer said, “Every spring it’s the same.”  The government officer ordered the government troops on horses to disperse.

The second student frowned with disappointment.

“I don’t think they’re going to charge,” the second student said.

“They never do,” the first student said, “Every spring it’s the same.”

“It’s our own fault, I suppose,” the second student said.