The Party Fixers

“Oh God!” August said. “*You really mean we should be humiliated by those standard of so-called humility, at those parties!”

“If that's not what you 're able to care about, then we can't trust you!” the main administrator told him. Then he added: “There's also a policy, you know, that says that everyone who is into humility for real can be allowed to have some real extravagance or proud behavior of some other kind at those parties!”

“In practice, that turns out to be the double standard that is used against exactly those that you guys don't feel should be free to be proud!”

“No it isn't!” another administrator broke in. “Because it is the pride that is there without that actual humility to it that it sorted out from everybody's behavior! There is a chance of changing the attitude one has - and that is so for everyone!”

The guy who was there to complain looked thoughtful. “Alright, I'll try that!” he said finally. “But are you sure that once I come up with that kind of attitude, it will be rewarded that way!?”

“That is almost for certain!” the main administrator said. “But we cannot guarantee that our information about it will be correctly updated, sadly enough. However, dear fellow, we can be sure that the longer you persist with a good behavior, the better are your chances to be rewarded for it!”

The guy looked troubled. “It's like that!” he burst out. “But it isn't I who can see to it that everyone knows it when I'm into humility! Because if I say I am, then that's considered an bragging attitude that should not be rewarded!”

The administrators looked at each other and him. They told him that they would work on that, and that there should hopefully not be that type of mistake made. One of them looked at him and said: “There's not any reason for them not to say to themselves that your attitude can have changed! If it does change, then probably they'll report it to us!”

The guy was silent for a while. Then he looked at the administrator that had just spoken to him and asked: “But how come for example Heinrich Henderson and Maria Flurande are prioritized as if their humility was real?! I can say that both of them are into blackmailing both me and some of the others!”

“It's because both of them are into real humility in the sense that neither of them is arrogant enough for us to have any problem with either one of them!”

“I guess that you don't realize it when Heinrich, for instance, harasses people for tendencies to be what he considers low. ... nor when Maria declares anyone that is not her type of fellow be low enough to be despised - until this person really acts arrogant enough not to be considered a person of humility!”

Two of the administrators looked troubled. “We'll look into it!” one of those two assured the complaining man. But the main administrator said:” See! Now this fellow is trying to blame some of our best members! There's reason to discuss to which extent this fellow should be a part of our party-fixing association at all!”

At the next party, the guy with the complaints observed the two people he had been talking about try to behave as if they never ever would be into the attitudes he had said to the administrators that they had, respectively. It seemed that they were being friendly now, to almost everybody, but he himself was put aside as if he were a blackmailer who never should be trusted.