A barren landscape of primordial evil. The indigenous people of this node thank you for your invasion of their sacred land.
Relevancy.
Some are so sure of their place in the world that they will assume any place in it to be theirs. Social stature leads to a feeling of power over those who have less of it. Then wander into the world below... what is beneath you is not so readily known... or easily understood. It is more easily spat upon, but does that make it less worthy? Read the signs. They are just overhead.
Big Pig's Warehouse
(Over by the bus station somewhere)
You are rising from the cycle of your own ancestry. Wealth and position are most commonly inherited, not unlike religion and skin color. There are those that jump from one class and position to another. But if one jumps into the class of the masses below, can he escape from its depths intact? What one has is more easily lost than that which one does not.
Take everything for granted.
Most people do. Why not you? Did you think you were amongst the few? Take a seat, listen closely while you sip your Mountain Dew.
"Hey shitbum, get a job!"
Mmmm. What you say is so tasty. I'm glad I have a nice pair of knickers and a forty dollar haircut, like you (that is sarcasm, my boy). Living in the streets smelling like dog feces certainly doesn't hurt my ability to seek gainful employment
How did I fall so far from grace?
And about these people who surround me... I used to look away. I always figured they brought the punishment for their sins upon themselves. Look at that troll under the bridge drinking from a half empty bottle of bourbon someone threw out the window of a limo last night. He is in heaven. This is his lucky day. A good rummage. Most days heaven is too far away.
Are you so far from where we are, Mister Mountain Dew drinking, sweater wearing, forty dollar haircut... can you spare a cigarette? Huh? I didn't think so.
Digression is the root of all evil.
...and I digress. I climbed the mountain. I did well for myself. Aunt Evelyn was so proud. Then I made mistakes. The spiral was so tight and poured me down into the chaos of the land. I ended up here, out behind Big Pig's Warehouse (not far from the bus station). I ask you for coins to buy cheap booze because it does more to kill the pain than the "good meal" you keep recommending I invest in. Does my life appear to be such a potential fountain of joy to you?
"Could you love any of us the same way you do your clean cut Christmas party friends?"
There is a drummer in the spectrum of life. His beat is often irregular. When the music's over you have nowhere to go. You end up here amongst us. How far do you really think you are from where we are? How many bad steps would it take to overcome all the precautions and safety nets you have set up? Set up too many of those and you stop living. You only exist in a steady stream of semi-consciousness. Do you really want to get off the trapeze and lie in Oboe the elephant's hay? Safe and warm? Risk has rewards. Rewards have risks. Life is about the risk, and you won't feel its deeper tones unless you know the bottom is as close as the top. Living in safety is not much different from flatlining.
"I didn't mean to steal so much of your time. Maybe if we met five years ago we could have been chatting at some technology conference at the Bombay Hilton. My sales topped out at over a million a month back in 1987. How long ago that was... could you maybe spare enough for me to get a nice Christmas time bottle of Scotch? You know, being the holidays and all?"
And the band played on