Звездный десант

           "Hmmph!Doyouknowhowtoleadapig?Nevermind.Whenyougraduate,you’regoingtostudybusinessatHarvard;youknowthat.Afterthat,youwillgoontotheSorbonneandyou’lltravelabitalongwithit,meetsomeofourdistributors,findouthowbusinessisdoneelsewhere.Thenyou’llcomehomeandgotowork.You’llstartwiththeusualmenialjob,stockclerkorsomething,justforform’ssake—butyou’llbeanexecutivebeforeyoucancatchyourbreath,becauseI’mnotgettinganyyoungerandthequickeryoucanpickuptheload,thebetter.Assoonasyou’reableandwilling,you’llbeboss.There!Howdoesthatstrikeyouasaprogram?Ascomparedwithwastingtwoyearsofyourlife?"

           Ididn’tsayanything.Noneofitwasnewstome;I’dthoughtaboutit.Fatherstoodupandputahandonmyshoulder."Son,don’tthinkIdon’tsympathizewithyou;Ido.Butlookattherealfacts.Iftherewereawar,I’llbethefirsttocheeryouon—andtoputthebusinessonawarfooting.Butthereisn’t,andpraiseGodthereneverwillbeagain.We’veoutgrownwars.Thisplanetisnowpeacefulandhappyandweenjoygoodenoughrelationswithotherplanets.Sowhatisthissocalled‘FederalService’?Parasitism,pureandsimple.Afunctionlessorgan,utterlyobsolete,livingonthetaxpayers.Adecidedlyexpensivewayforinferiorpeoplewhootherwisewouldbeunemployedtoliveatpublicexpenseforatermofyears,thengivethemselvesairsfortherestoftheirlives.