The French Formula (LSD, #3)

17. Pride (In The Name Of Love)

Pride (In The Name Of Love)

"And who is this?", Doc asks.

The screen shows one man to overthrow, doing cartwheels on the floor.

"That's me, Doc. Well, people think it's Gregor, but inside Gregor's skin... it's me."

"And who, in the name of love, is this?"

The screen shows the same man, jumping somersaults on a bed.

"That's me too."

"And this man, is that you too?"

The screen shows me, in my Gregor-disguise, telling the international press (and via them: the entire world) that I'm the best, that we're the best, that there's nobody better, that this insignificant team of losers from Belarus is now the European Champion, that we put the Germans back to where they belong: at the second level, because there can only be one, and that's us, the best of the best of the best, the winner of the Pillow Fighting Tournament at the European Games, the winner of the gold medal, the top of the bill, the cherry on the cake, the crème brûlée de la crème fraîche of the most famous people on earth...

"I plead guilty, Doc. No need to show me those other parts, where I stand on my head, or when I do that imitation of Cristiano Ronaldo, or where I—"

Doc interrupts me: "A man boasts about himself when he knows nobody else will, and nobody will when it's insignificant what you did. I'm not here to judge you, Bugs. I don't care that you drop your trousers and show your naked butt before the cameras to the eyes of the world. I won't punish you either. You're my friend and you've saved my life; you can trust me. I won't tell the authorities. Nobody puts you in jail. I just want you to answer my question: where did you get the dope? Who gave you the G.O.D.-drugs? Because it's obvious that you and your little gang of losers could never win this tournament without success enhancers, and I did all the tests on you and your teammates but I found nothing, so it has to be G.O.D., the only known drug that gives such spectacular results without being detected. Did the Gambino family give it to you? Was it Tong Au? Was it Manny?"

I'm confused and stammer: "No. No... It's not like that. I would never do such a thing. Why do you think I took drugs?"

Doc takes his time to think. He sips his coffee and looks at me, looks at my face, looks into my eyes: "Do you agree with me that this person before the cameras is not you? I mean: forget that you look like Gregor, forget that you pretend to be somebody else. The one who acts there is not my friend who stood behind me during the last week, helping me, covering my back and pushing my wheelchair. The real «you» is a modest person. You know a lot and you have many skills, but never in the past week did you put yourself above anybody else. That's what you do here: you show the world you're better than anyone else, and not just a little better, but a whole mega lot better. And why? Because you won a Pillow Fight Tournament? Because you are the best at playing a silly game that didn't even exist one week ago? I thought you wanted to save the world. You're destroying the world..."

"You don't understand, Doc. The Belarus Pillow-fighters were the losers of Europe. I came, I saw, and I turned them into a winning team: Veni, Vidi, Fantasy. In one day, I transformed those four losers into successful winners, in a unique way, by having fun, by showing the world how to focus on the good side of every human being, giving everyone a chance to do hor best. This is not about me. It's teamwork. It's an example to the world how we can solve all our problems: by doing it together, by letting everyone contribute to the team, by letting the whole world form part of that team.

» This is not about winning a medal. This is about solving poverty, and pollution, and illiteracy, and drug abuse, and alcoholism, and all those other problems we see around us. This is for all those people who feel lonely and depressed, showing them how we can have a better future when we respect each other and have fun. We can achieve the impossible when we do it together. This is about the future of humanity. This is about saving the world. Don't you understand?"