Adoration Page #3

But then, a few weeks later,

he showed up to declare his love for her.

I want you to come with me.

Rachel, I told you before.

I'll be there in a few days,

- and my family will meet you there.

- They'll be upset.

- Why?

- I'm pregnant.

No, no. No.

A child is cause for great celebration

and joy.

They'll love you even more.

I can feel sorry for him,

but I can't feel any amount of respect or...

- Yeah.

... try to humanize anything he did.

I can only say, "Wow!

That kind of sucks that he was raised

"and he grew up

and he thought that he had to do this

- "to be enlightened. ' '

- Exactly. It's been

- implanted in his mind since the beginning.

- Or whatever he was thinking.

So that's the only way he knows to live.

So many things have been implanted

into all of our minds.

You know? Like, where did I buy this?

It's implanted in my mind to, like,

go get a good deal at, like, Nike and...

Exactly, which is our culture,

yeah, and that's...

I'm not trying to defend myself.

I'm saying that

that stuff is ingrained in our brain,

just like, you know, blowing up

stuff is ingrained in their brain.

- Exactly, but when it hurts other people...

- And it does hurt other people.

...I mean, but to a far higher degree.

Is that something that our culture does?

Yeah. So, to a far less degree,

we're harming someone, I suppose.

No. Because we're doing it in...

Why are we talking about capitalism

versus terrorism?

- I don't know.

- Well, it's just like...

I'm just saying that our minds are ingrained

with different values

that also may be wrong values,

even though you don't even realize it.

Right, but it's not blowing up 400 people

when I go and buy a hoodie.

No, it's all for personal gain.

We buy Nike because we think

we're gonna look cool.

He wanted to blow up the plane

'cause he thought he was going to get

40 virgins in the afterlife.

Exactly!

Simon's trying to humanize him.

That's fine, he's his father.

Like, I would, too,

if I was making up a story about my father.

I would try and humanize him. Like,

I would try... That's all part of the game.

We're all victims of our circumstances,

then that's the norm.

So there's nothing out of the ordinary

about how the father was raised.

We're all innocent to some degree.

Is it any worse for us to be

so over-indulgent and to let people die

because they have no money

than, like, actually killing them ourselves?

Does that mean

that we should have no opinion

- on terrorists killing innocent people?

- I'm just saying are we that much better?

Of course, we're much better!

Of course we are.

Hey, guys. You've got to check this out.

You know how my mom's a prof?

She's got this chat room

and they're talking all about Simon's story.

What do you mean?

They're talking about what happened

with your dad and everything.

How'd they find out?

Well, I told it to my mom.

- You showed it to your mom?

- Why not?

It's not like you're trying

to keep it a big secret anymore.

I mean, why wouldn't you want people

to find out?

Why is that so shocking,

so surprising to you that you feel

that you have a sense of entitlement

in this story?

I was on that plane. I was on that plane.

I don't call it a sense of entitlement.

It happens to be that...

If it is evil, whatever it was,

whatever Simon's father's intentions were,

I could feel on my own skin

once I learned about it.

I'm not sure that it was a trauma at the

time. I think we're just living it in our minds

the way Simon is trying

to live it in his mind.

Yes. I think that the

trauma happens later on,

that it grows on you as time goes by,

almost like a cancer.

Whether it's real or fictional,

as soon as we imagine it, then it becomes

something that we have to deal with.

I don't understand what's so seductive

about being a victim.

We embrace the sense of being a victim

almost to the extent that it blinds us

to the pain of others.

It's like a suit of clothes

that's so comfortable today.

His father basically ruined my life.

I mean, I've been pretty much...

Since, you know... And...

Since it happened, I've been pretty much...

My eating is completely out of control.

Has been. I've gained about 100 pounds.

And I just can't...

I can't seem to get it together

to just basically do anything.

So when I do work, I have to travel

by plane, it basically goes like this.

Like, one second after another second,

it's like, "Is it going to explode?

"Is it going to explode?

Is it going to explode?"

Second after second after second.

"Is it going to explode?

Is it going to explode?"

The next second, "Is it going to explode?"

- It's like that. I mean, you know...

- I've known David for 25 years,

and he's just a different man. Like, he's

just not the same person that he used to be.

It's not like I was such a great person

to begin with,

but I think that I am the guy

who was blown to smithereens.

- What?

- Okay? In a terrorist attack.

And I've come back from the dead

to rage against the f***ing a**holes

who believe that killing someone

for an idea is something that's viable!

The idea that somebody

would put their pregnant wife on a plane...

...would choose, because I'm Jewish

or because the plane was going to Israel,

to kill everyone on the flight,

I mean, that's the most sickening,

disgusting, despicable thing

I've ever heard of in my life.

But you weren't, in fact,

blown to smithereens.

- I don't understand why you say...

- Did you hear what I said?

"I am the guy

who came back from the dead!"

I am speaking for them.

The school's position is that you

encouraged him to take it as far as he could.

- As a drama exercise.

- But he wasn't in the Drama Club.

You weren't teaching him drama.

This monologue was presented

in your French class. Is that correct?

I don't understand, Sabine.

You convinced this boy

to present it as the truth.

As a way of developing it.

I just did not understand it would go

as far as it did.

He never told me

he was going to post it on the Net.

I don't know how we'd proceed with this,

Sabine.

You're saying that it's wrongful dismissal,

and yet everything the school

is claiming you did, you did.

Well, whether or not you knew

he was going to post it

and that it would get such a reaction

is not really the issue.

No, I just don't want to waste your money.

Why did you choose to read

that particular article to the students,

about the man

wanting to blow up the plane?

It's a challenging piece to translate.

It happened the month I came here.

Why?

My parents were killed in Beirut.

We couldn't stay there.

No. I meant why is it so challenging?

No. I have to go.

Yeah. This is a tow-away zone,

employee parking.

You'll have to pay his release fee.

Is this your car?

- Yes.

- Okay. It's $55.

- What for?

- To get me to stop.

And if I don't want you to stop?

- What do you mean?

- If I want you to keep doing your job.

- Yeah, my job's to tow your car away.

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