Philosophy Theatre

The man who goes by the pseudonym Jester Teller is sitting in his study thinking back. My life had become unbearable. What happened? Where did it all go wrong?

I thought my ideas were so simple and beautiful that they would spread like wildfire across the Earth and bring about an enlightened era, but look what happened! In just a few short years I had been turned into a laughingstock. My memes were ridiculed and laughed at; my thoughts ridiculed and destroyed. I felt like my entire life was worth nothing. All of the things I built were destroyed; all of my hard work and dedication rendered utterly meaningless.

I began to believe myself to be a fool. I started to think that there was no hope for humanity and that the world would be doomed to repeat history forever. That’s when I realized I could only rely on myself. I was the one with all of the answers. I was the only one who could save the world. I wasn’t going to wait around for the rest of the world to turn their attention to the important issues. I was going to make them pay attention. I was going to show them just how wrong they were. I was going to give the people exactly what they wanted.

It seemed like an impossible task. People had already written me off, laughed at me. rejected me, and I had to convince them to listen again? I had no idea where to start.

And then it came to me. I knew just what to do, and I immediately set out to put my plan into action. I began posting on social media, telling the world that I was the one they needed to hear from. I told them that I was the only one who could save them. That I was the one to lead humanity to a new age!

I knew I had to find out how to reach people with my ideas, so I went to my favorite website, Reddit, and created a subreddit dedicated to me! My followers quickly grew exponentially, and I posted everything I could think of, trying to gain even more followers. It worked! The more people read my stuff, the more they liked it, and the more they wanted to follow me. Before long, I had tens of thousands of fans. They couldn’t help but like me!

What was this feeling in my chest? I felt like I could do anything! The world was mine, and I was the hero it deserved. If anyone ever tried to stop me, I knew that I could just post another meme explaining why they were wrong and watch them bow down before me.

And yet, I still felt like something was missing from my life. It was almost like there was someone standing beside me, watching my every move. Someone who wouldn’t stop laughing at me, no matter how hard I tried.

I looked around. No one was there. Maybe I was losing my mind…

I turned around and noticed that instead of my reflection in the mirror there was a jester. He had on a black and purple suit, purple cape with a jester hood, and had a weird golden mask over his face.

“Why is there a jester in my mirror?”

The jester laughed, as if amused by my concern. “It’s not funny anymore,” I said, “you’re scaring me.”

“Don’t you know me? I’m you.”

“No!” I exclaimed.

“Yes! You don’t think I’d let you have all the power, do you? Look at me! I’m the image you show everyone on the internet. The image who laughs at all your jokes.”

“But you aren’t me!”

“Of course not, silly! That would be ridiculous. I’m a character you created. The world loves you, but I’m the one they’ve fallen in love with.”

“You can’t be real. A jester in my mirror talking to me. I’ve got to cut back on my late night gaming.”

The jester laughed again. “I am the meme that will never die.”

My stomach began to churn. There was no way that he could be real.

“Please stop laughing. It’s making me nervous!”

The jester sighed, and his face became serious. “Okay, fine. I’ll stop. But don’t ever doubt me again. I’m the one running this game, after all.”

I nodded. “Okay. I believe you weird mirror jester. You don’t seem like a bad guy, so can you tell me your name?”

The jester bowed. “I’m the man behind the curtain. Call me Oz.”

My mouth dropped open. How could he be so calm about this? What was going on here?

“Okay,” I asked, “what are you then? Are you an AI? A bot?”

The jester shook his head. “Nope, nothing like that. At least, not in the way you mean.”

“Then what are you then? What makes you different?”

The jester shrugged at me. “I’m the meme!”

“A meme? So you’re a concept? Something that’s shared between people? Is that what you meant?”

“That’s right. We’re all living in a shared universe, and we all influence each other. Our behavior influences other people, our actions affect others, and our opinions determine how others feel.”

“Okay,” I said slowly. “So you’re not a person as we understand it, but you are a part of us. You’re the idea of how we think people should act.”

“Exactly.”

“And what makes you better than the rest of us? What gives you the ability to change the world as you have?”

“I don’t ‘change the world’ as you say. We don’t change the world. It changes us. We’re all just characters. The world is simply our stories being played out.”

“But there has to be more to it.”

Oz shook his head. “Not everything needs to be explained. People need to learn to trust in themselves. You do what you must. The world doesn’t owe you anything.”

I felt my heart thumping in my chest. “But it’s not fair! I’m the one who has to live in this horrible place!”

“We all do. We all get the same life. It’s all just different stories. We’re all the hero or the villain in someone else’s novel. That’s all.”

I couldn’t help myself. The frustration was too much for me to contain. “But why did that man have to kill his wife and kids? Why did the terrorists blow up that hospital? Why do people have to be so awful?”

“Life isn’t fair. We don’t get to choose how it plays out. That’s our story, and that’s that. Just accept that it happened, and do what you have to do. That’s all there is. Don’t complain about it, don’t make excuses. We have free will, so why not use it, or suffer the consequences?”

“But that’s just stupid! There’s got to be more to it! Something that’s bigger than all of us! Some reason!”

“There is. But you won’t find it, so you might as well stop wasting your energy trying. Instead, focus on what you can do to make things better for yourself. The rest is outside your control. You can only control what you do.”

“I’m doing something, though! I’m trying to change the world! If I could just figure this out, then I’d…” I stopped abruptly.

“Then what? What are you going to do if you can change the world? Is it worth it? Are you willing to trade your humanity for some imaginary reward? No matter what happens, you’ll never find the answer. Not for real.” Oz sounded solemn, but there was a hint of amusement in his eyes. I didn’t know whether to take this as an indictment or a compliment.

“No, I guess not,” I said. “You’re right. I probably wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference. So, what now?”

“Nothing. You’re right, you shouldn’t waste your energy chasing after a pipe dream. But you also shouldn’t give up your quest to try and make the world a better place. That’s what you need to figure out. How you can use your humanity to make a difference without sacrificing your own happiness. That’s what’s important.”

“Okay. I think I understand. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Anyway, I have a job to do, so I gotta go.”

“Yeah. Okay. Later. Weird mirror jester.”

Oz turned around, took three steps, and disappeared into thin air. As I watched, the light from the lamp above my desk suddenly began to dim. For a few seconds I saw nothing but a bright spot in the center of my eyesight, then it faded and vanished. When my vision returned, there was no sign of Oz, no trace of the magic trick he’d just performed. I sat there a minute, processing everything that had just happened

“What was that all about?” I asked aloud. No one answered. I sighed, then started thinking about what I could do. How could I change the world without sacrificing my own happiness? Then it came to me. I would have the most fun possible. I would create a club to help me take control of things. The Jester Gang.

The Jester Gang would have an agenda. We’d fight against the status quo. Our mission was to make the world a better place. To do that, we couldn’t be like the others; we had to be different. I would use my writing ability to create a cult following. I would give the members of the Jester Gang a reason to follow me, and to spread the word of The Jester Gang around the globe.

The Jesters would fight for their own happiness. They would do whatever it took to reach their goal, no matter how painful or difficult it might be. They would never stop until they achieved what they set out to accomplish. If they couldn’t find a way to get to their goal, they’d simply create one. Anything was possible if a Jester wanted it bad enough.

That’s who I was going to be. I would use everything that I knew about the world to bring everyone else up to the same level as me. I’d make them all think like me, but in different ways. Everything that I did, I would do with a touch of class and a splash of craziness thrown in for good measure.

I wasn’t going to let anyone else run my life. If there were rules in the world, I’d make them. That was who I was. I was Jester Teller, and I was going to run things my way.