“You don’t want to be a peon all of your life.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” I said.

“Of course there is,” Roe retorted. “The weak and worthless do this kind of work, and I’m neither. If you’ll just lie back and accept being a peasant, maybe you are among the worthless.”

“I would think a lot of people we work with have said the same thing.” Almost as soon as I spoke the words, I knew it was a mistake.

True, Roe would probably never obtain his dream. True, he may end up as tired and cynical as the rest of the workers, but I shouldn’t have expressed such a belief.