Conversation with a self-professed Anarchist

My life is still about Greyhound buses. My posts are still about conversations with fellow passengers. But this one is a little special. It's about my conversations with an anarchist. And a real interesting one at that.

Mr Anarchist got on the bus at Noho, saw me tip tapping aimlessly on my laptop and asked a very conversation opener type question: So do you like being a student?

I was a little taken aback. I mean, did I enjoy being a student? So I chose the easy route and started a monologue on my dissertation topic- a sure conversation starter.. 

I usually win the "who has juicier stories" contest whenever I start talking about my dissertation, but this time our man won. Cos he is an anarchist. An anarchist who was diagnosed with bipolar in highschool. Who was taken out of college and put in a mental asylum. Who refused to accept the diagnosis and instead started a "movement" of his own. He goes from school to school talking to students who think they are "freaks". He convinces them that what they have is not a disease but a "dangerous gift". Like the Tale of Icarus' wings, wings that no one recognizes, wings that you need to be able to use. He runs a farm where he raises goats. He waits for the government to fall and the first black president to be in power. But then he knows that who is in power is immaterial. Because power comes from the masses. 

I confess I was floored. Yes, a lot may sound cliched. But it was said so poetically and without pretense that I almost joined the movement. But then I wasn't sure about the goats.