Joel Stiffler

George: Hello, my name is George. What's your name?

Ralph: I'm Ralph, nice to meet you.

George: So tell me Ralph, what's your story?

Ralph: Well, a bunch of other kids and myself got stranded on an island when our plane crashed. The pilot was killed in the crash and all that was left were us kids. Long story short, two of us died, one was murdered, and everyone else except for me went crazy and became like a tribe of savages. Obviously we were eventually rescued. Just in the nick of time i might add, as they were about to kill me too.

George: Wow, that's pretty intense. I thought I had problems but that's pretty messed up too. You wanna talk about it at all? I've not exactly lived a fairy tale either. We could talk about it and work through our experiences together.

Ralph: Ok, I suppose I'd be up to that. Well, let's see, where to start? Um, in the beginning it was just another kid named Piggy and I...

George: One of the kid's names was Piggy?

Ralph: Well, no actually. I don't know what his real name was, he was always just Piggy. It was actually me that got him named that I suppose, now that I think about it. That's beside the point though.

George: Right, sorry for interrupting.

Ralph: It's ok. Anyways, it was just the two of us, then I found a shell that could make noise if you blew into it loud enough. After I did that, other kids started coming. There were a lot of us, and some of them were very young while others were older around my age.

George: How did you handle having to look after the smaller children? That must've been an enormous burden to carry. I know a thing or two about having to look after other less competent individuals.

Ralph: Well, at first it went ok. The others actually voted me to be their leader on account of the fact I had thought to gather everyone with the shell. Although looking back, it was actually Piggy who knew what it was, not me.

George: You seem upset whenever you mention this Piggy kid. Was he one of the kids that died while you were on the island.

Ralph: He was. I'll get to that in a moment.

George: Right, sorry for asking.

Ralph: As I was saying, everything was going alright for a little while, until everyone became obsessed with the "monster" on the island. One of the little ones mentioned it at first, and it was just a joke, then it became something more. One of the other kids took over and turned what was essentially a democracy into a tribe, where he was the leader. One of the little ones had already died in an accident. Then once it was only Piggy and I left, we went into their village to talk with them and to maybe come to some sort of understanding. They killed Piggy and I ran away. They hunted me and burned the whole island in an attempt to find me. Ironically it was the fire they started that alerted a nearby Naval vessel of our location. We were rescued just as they had found me.

George: You're a pretty lucky kid. I can't believe that a bunch of kids could do something like that. Its really disturbing to think. I always thought of childhood as a time of innocence before you become aware of the awful parts of the world.

Ralph: So had I. The environment on the island was so full of fear and anxiety that it tore us apart. People had to break away from a logical and reasoned existance because that kept reminding them of the reality of our situation. I've spent a lot of time since then thinking about what happened.

George: Clearly, I can see that. That sounds like a pretty good explanation of what happened too. That must be such a burden on you still since you were the leader in the beginning.

Ralph: Ya, I would say it still weighs pretty heavily on me.

George: I know how you feel. I was forced to make the decision of killing my best friend myself, or letting a gang of others eventually catch and kill him. I decided to do it myself while he wasn't looking. I just didn't want him to be afraid. I'm not ever going to really get over it I think.

Ralph: I don't blame you. That is similar to how I feel as well. I feel like it was my fault that Piggy died and that things turned out the way they did.

George: The responsibility always falls on the shoulders of leader. I never even intended for it to be that way. Lennie just kind of grew on me, and before I knew it we were traveling together and I was having to look after him. Part of me wishes I never would've known him, that I could've just wandered about on my own doing my own thing. I would've been fine that way. It would've saved me a lot of grief.

Ralph: I agree. If I would've been the only one to survive the plane crash I wouldn't have to live with this either. That sounds awful, but I wouldn't have to deal with these feelings now. Even if that meant still being stuck on the island.

George: Knowing people, its just not worth it. You'll end up getting hurt in the end no matter what. People all die eventually, and more than likely they'll find some way to be a burden on you or hurt you some other way before that anyways. People are all scared, self interested creatures. So why should any of us try to be anything different? I say from now on I'm just gonna go about my business my own way, and do whatever I want when I want. I will no longer be hindered or bothered by others.

Ralph: I agree. People are self-interested and look out for only themselves. So there is no point in trying to fool ourselves otherwise. I'm just going to move on with my life and not worry about others from now on.

George: I'm glad we've had this talk. I actually feel much better than I did a bit ago. I feel, resolved and ready to start over.

Ralph: Yes, thank you I feel the same. Be seein' ya then.

George: Yup, good luck.