The day is sunny, the winter is over. The streets are gray, and people are all milling around, waiting for the presidential arrest. Another teenaged assassin-wannabe was being arrested, and the president was staring at the blood on his fingers, having waved off his secret service.

“Let me be honest with you all,” The old man said, a glimmer within his eyes fading, and as the president looked out to address the people, his gaze was focused. It looked like he truly saw all the people he was looking out at, and when he spoke, his voice was serious and very pragmatic, “I don’t want to do this anymore. Society has become a game instead of a means to help us all grow together, and this game isn’t a fun one to play. Can… Maybe this is overstepping my boundaries as President, but I ask not just the people of America but the people of the World to hear my plea.”

His hands placed on the wooden dias, his gaze clear and focused—almost searing with how focused on his surroundings he was. The sun shined down, and the gray world held a hint of yellow to it all as the people milling around quieted down, staring at the man speaking. All around, cameras and drones were focused on the man, helicopters flying overhead to ensure no attacks were made.

“Can we come back to reality? Society has become a great—truly wonderful—game all about money, but it was originally created so that humanity could grow together instead of apart. We have become separated in our times, and it is time we stop this. There should be no countries, there should be no laws restricting basic freedoms that humans have restricted from themselves, there should only be one governing body, and that governing body shouldn’t be me,” The president said.

Many people cried out at his words, but he spoke clearly and sharply, staring at each location where the people made noise.

“I am not done. You will be quiet or you can go home and watch this on YouTube,” He snapped.

It was quiet for several seconds, and he sighed, relaxing.

“Thank you. Truly, thank you guys,” The president’s head bowed, and he shook his head before looking up, at the sky, “We’re in a beautiful world, we truly are. It’s a shame no one can see it.”

The president looked back at the people, noting that several of them were looking up, their eyes focusing on the helicopter instead of on the beautiful blue sky with fluffy white clouds above.

“The governing body shouldn’t be some stupid politician who is well-liked by the people, the people don’t know what’s best for them. That I am here is proof enough of that,” The man admitted, his hands tightening on the dias as his face grew red at the admittance, “It should be a lot of highly qualified and well-educated logisticians and people trained in resource management. The governing body shouldn’t be politicians, it should be scientists, logicians, and statisticians.”

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Some people cheered, and the president waited. As he waited, more and more people grew loud.

“People on the governing body should be those who can all collectively look at what humanity has to offer in base resources, manufacturing ability, and the capability of the lands, and they should all have resources spread out based on need and contribution to the betterment of society, instead of money spread out based on whoever is most popular and entertaining at the time. We are growing ourselves into a dead end, and we need to stop before it is too late—it might already be too late, who knows? But I ask this of not just America, but of the world and its current leaders. I’ll never get tired of playing this game, especially because I’m winning it, but I see all the people suffering because they are genuinely good people, and it breaks my heart. That is all.”

The president turned, finally letting the secret services cart him away. The crowd was silent. Then, a single cheer echoed out.

“Yeah!” Someone yelled, “Death to society! Life to humanity!”

They chanted it, and soon others joined in.

“Death to society! Life to humanity!” They all yelled out, chanting it.

The president hesitated before he got into his limousine, turning his head. His focused gaze scanned the crowd as it chanted. Death to society, life to humanity, huh? He mused on it awhile, turning back to the limousine and ducking into it, an agent closing the door behind him.

It would be nice if they all were able to break out of those insane thoughts of theirs and truly accept reality as it was, the president mused, looking at himself in the mirror. It was odd, though.

How had he managed to gain such clarity? The bullet had only grazed him, taking the tip of one of his fingers. It didn’t hit his head, and yet he felt like he’d had a massive several-hours-long epiphany after he’d been shot, despite knowing it had only been a few seconds.

This world was broken, he mused, a deep-set sorrow brewing within his chest. He had not only continued the cycle of negativity and violence, but he had spread it like it was gospel.

While he could not change the actions of his past, some he still held no apology for, he could change his actions in the future. He did not want to see this world curl up and die spending all its time pleasuring itself. He wanted it to stretch out, stand up, and walk outside, observing the world with a fresh set of eyes and the realization that life could be different.

The president closed his eyes as he was driven away from the speech, exhausted.

Death to society indeed. Would it truly lead to life for humanity, though? Or was it too late for them all?