A Conversation Between Two Men

"Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Why, I'm the greatest man on Earth."

"No you're not...you're an arrogant prick."

"You mean you're the arrogant prick."

"No, I meant you."

"My friend, your opinion of my character is completely invalid as far as I'm concerned.  As long as I know who I am, it does not matter what you think of me."

"My friend, with that attitude you will win a lot of enemies and lose a lot of friends."

"So life goes."

"The world will kick you in the teeth!  Can't you see?"

"So be it.  I will work the harder."

"Everyone would be against you!  Do you think they care?"

"Let me say it again, what they think of me is completely invalid as far as I'm concerned."

"You think you're such hot shit"

"Your opinions are merely the reflections of what other people say to you, my sad friend.  You have no soul, no mind of your own.  You're merely a rag-doll controlled by a collective entity."

"You're nuts."

"No.  I'm free."

"But you can't do that!  You can't just declare yourself as the greatest man on Earth and jabber about freedom and insult society and whatnot!  Who the hell do you think you are?"

"I am the greatest man on Earth, for I have honed my abilities to near perfection.  I am the greatest man on Earth for I have reason to acquire knowledge, I have intuition, I have everything that I need to validate my existence."

"You're crazy!  You're crazy!  You're a crazy son of a bitch!"

"Crazy?  Look at yourself then.  Is your life any saner than mine?  Who do you think you are?  Do you even know?  Are you even aware of your own existence?  Can't you not see that there is a dark shadow looming over you, surreptitiously watching your every move?"

"You're seeing things..."

"You're in denial."

"In denial?  For heaven's sake, let us just cease this ridiculous conversation and pretend that it never happened in the first place."

"You can't handle the truth."

"Whether your insane theories are true or not, I have to live.  And your way of living certainly violates all the principles and morals that I have lived by ever since the day of my birth.  Goodbye sir!"

"Goodbye to you too then."

"Hmph!"