About ten minutes before the next shift started at the Mashuda cafeteria, we were forced to have our lunch break.  Because of this one of the workers made some off-color remark about the dining hall enforcing communist ideals, a comment I didnít really understand but one that seemed to perk the ears of Dan, line server for the day.  ìWhatís wrong with communism?î he asked.
Oh nothing, itís such an effective system,î I said sarcastically, although Dan stood his ground, applying his mere nineteen years of life to a political debate he obviously couldnít understand.

    ìIt is an effective system.î

    One thing I canít stand is some ignorant teenager trying to force feed me an ideology I know that he couldnít possibly comprehend.  I had enough of it in high school, where each clique thought their belief system was, no matter how juvenile, all that there was to their plane of existence, and no one elseís opinion mattered.  ìAnd whyís that,î I asked Dan, wondering if he would fall into their familiar trough of an argument without proofs.

    ìBecause it gets the most progress done as a whole.î He replied, falling in line as predicted.

    ìIt fails to do that, and even if it did, it sacrifices the individual in the process.î
Dan remained firm in his statements, probably because his favorite band, Rage Against the Machine, told him to do so.  He had to change out of the t-shirt bearing their name and into his uniform in about five minutes now.
Rage Against the Machine is a very vocal communism-supporting band, seemingly unaware of their hypocrisy as they rake in millions of dollars influencing the minds of kids to abandon the ideals of their country out of a necessity to rebel against something at a young age.  ìYou just donít understand,î Dan told me.

    I didnít understand.

    I refuse to support a system that I couldnít possibly comprehend because I havenít experienced it; a system that ruins ambition and sacrifices the individual for the sake of the ignorant whole.  Yet I didnít understand.

    ìI donít think you understand, Dan.  Forget what Rage is telling you to believe, forget whatís cool at the moment and all that teen angst thatís welling up inside you and tell me what system you advocate.î

    ìCommunism.î

    At that, he rose from the table, finished with the meal that work provided for him, and walked in his top-of-the-line sneakers to the changing room to get ready for work, because he had to earn money to buy the next Rage Against the Machine album with.  I just wanted to strip all the designer clothes off his back and surrender them to the state at that moment, but I restrained myself.  I should just accept that no ideology is without its hypocrisy, and while young minds continue to be elastic there will always be an overpopulation of inept thinkers in the world.  Maybe Iím overanalyzing, and should just accept that communism is really, really cool.