Considering that it was raining, the people still seemed to swarm through the streets at a steady pace. Nothing seemed to disturb the equilibrium or the rhythm of the metropolis. The streets were greasy with oil, dirt and an accumulation of grime. Litter strewn across the gutter and washed along as so many lives had done before it; heading for the drain of despair,
Norman Guffle strides along in time with the throng of the marching city. Each person walks within this world, yet isolated inside their individual private worlds, oblivious to all around them. Nothing of this world made sense to Norman, nothing.
There may have been a time when all was at peace, people communicated and wore a smile, if this was true, if this really had once been so, then Norman lamented its passing. The rain beat in time to the footsteps of man's self-imposed march to hell. He sailed along hapless, heedless of the others, sad and alone in the midst of the roving crowd, wallowing in self-absorption. Lost as life itself has become.
Perhaps in another time, in another life things had been different; better, people cared, cared for their environment and for each other. Now all that mattered was the new God, the supreme deity that drives and moulds the individual. The God of money, of crass capitalism. To feel greed, to feel selfish. No, not feel, that no longer applies, it’s beyond that now, it's a deeply entrenched way of life. It just is.
The rain began to lighten but the sun refused to shine, perhaps it never will again. Perhaps that too belongs to another time. Now all that remains is acid rain, bad air and litter. Loneliness stalks the street like a vampire sucking the life out of the individual. Why did we make such a world, where did we think it would lead? Utopia? Norman turned the corner and entered his office block.
Life continues its inexorable spiral down to hell and nobody notices, nobody cares, whilst the shiny false God of money just sits out of reach, beckoning all on to reach out for more. But all they get is less; each pound, dollar, Frank takes away another part of humanity. And what of Norman, after a brief session in the rain he turns and faces his God. All is forgotten his thoughts crushed and buried under the weight of life, and so the struggle of life continues unabated. And nothing and nobody has the will to change it. False fear and self-interest stalks the world hand in hand with the devil. The New World Order has stolen in, their subtle and subliminal control eroding the goodness of man.