Lectures: 107
– Give me your cell phone!
Startled, I freeze at the warning. The person who has interrupted my daily walk through the city is a young man of around 25 years of age. One always assumes that he may be the target of an assault or a sick joke. I look at the robber in the eyes and in them I find that doubtful look of someone who is new to these tasks.
“Look young man. I don’t have a cell phone.
– What doesn’t have a cell phone? If you want to make fun of me, you will find an answer that is foreign to my principles of a peaceful robber.
“Look young man. I have never used a cell phone, because I consider it an artifact of domination, designed to keep us submerged in adolescence, trapped in ignorance.
—Enough, gentleman, with those excuses of an anarchist follower of Bakunin. If you don’t give me your cell phone now, because time is running out, I will have to resort to violence.
—Did you say violence?
—Yes, yes, to the violence that governs society, in pursuit of our most cherished objectives!
“You know, young man? Lying in this trance in which I find myself is a risk and I could swear to you that I have never had a cell phone. I don’t even know how to use them.
—How am I going to believe him, if eight-year-old children already use cell phones? Do not tell me that you are illiterate, perhaps a beggar who does not have the resources to buy that device that frees us from ignorance. I see him dressed as a prosperous bourgeois and that endorses my arguments.
—I, my esteemed young man, think the opposite. The cell phone that you defend so much is a diabolical invention, destined to submit us to canons designed by imperialism and thus be able to direct our lives. It is a disease that could well be called cellulite.
“Look, gentleman. None of his analyzes and rants have convinced me. Time is running out and out of principle, I must end this operation. It’s time to go home.
—If you don’t trust me, then register me and so you can verify that I don’t have a cell phone or any other device to communicate.
“Register it?” Please. You have confused me with a common robber, who has lost his dignity and dedicates himself to robbing the homeless and women. I selected you, sir, as I often see you walking down this street, looking for lost time. I don’t think I was wrong on this occasion.
“It’s true, young man, what you say. I often walk through these streets, where sycamores are planted, which gives us a feeling of stillness, destined to forget the reality of an alienated world. Think without being interrupted by the strident and monotonous noise of the cell phone, which are often calls to offer a car for sale, an advance of money in the bank, a house on the beach and thus, convince ourselves that this world is the reflection of prosperity.
“Look, gentleman. I could agree with you, however, your analyzes do not feed me or my family. Stealing a cell phone, rather stealing it, a word that seems more appropriate to me, is an act linked to free will. You, and I observe without ambiguity, you can buy several cell phones and I, if I don’t steal them, I was left on edge, watching how others talk up their elbows. Isn’t that an injustice?
—And where did this disturbing analysis come from that would bring chaos to our society?
—I do not propose anything different, my dear gentleman. Our society has fallen into a whirlwind for years, headed for its destruction. Wars are perpetuated, indiscriminate killings in society, catastrophe and man continues to destroy himself…
“What do you think, dear young man, if we go to a cafe to continue this discussion?”
-OK. From the beginning, I suspected that you were not the ideal candidate to take away your cell phone.
By Walter Garib
