don't bother me--i'm eating

Today I had the rare opportunity to enjoy a solitary lunch outside in somewhat pleasant weather...a rare event in June in this corner of the world.

A young man with a clipboard (always avoid eye contact with anyone carrying a clipboard on a University campus!) took advantage of my sedentary position to initiate a conversation with me.

"Sir, could you sign this petition to put a proposal on the September ballot?"

"No."

"Sir, it will only take a minute..."

"I don't support it."

"Sir, I haven't told you what the proposal is. How do you know you're against it?"

"I didn't say I was against the proposal."

"What, then?"

"Voting."

(silence)

"You're against voting?"

"I believe it's a form of violence, and I generally don't support violence."

"How is voting violence?"

"It's the imposition of the will of the majority on the minority. Actually, if you take into account the number of people that don't vote, it's probably the imposition of a minority's will on everyone else. But either way it's the violent domination of one group by another."

"So you've never voted?"

"Oh, I didn't say that. In fact, I vote all the time."

"How do you justify that?"

"Self-defense."

(Actually, this conversation only took place in my head. What really happened was that he started talking to me, and through a half-chewed bite of chicken I simply said "I'm Canadian" so he would go away. But this makes for a better story.)