Er Rational musings #459

Er Rational musings #459



Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged".



Excerpts:



Dagny said,

There's my resignation, Jim. I will not work as a slave, or as a slave driver.



Dagny bids Eddie a fond farewell and says she's going to her family's cabin near Woodstock to think things over and decide what to do.



By Our Love

Dagny is having a hard time on her own in Woodstock. She is really depressed and can't figure out what to do with her life. She can't work for the railroad under the Directive, but she can't bring herself to let the railroad go either. She's in limbo. She also misses Hank, but she wants to pull herself together before seeing him again. Dagny is hanging out listening to classical music on the radio. A Hammond car pulls up – it's Francisco! They greet each other as they did in childhood, with their nicknames. He then grabs her into a bear hug and she realizes how much he still loves her. She's caught up in the moment but then remembers how he dumped her and pulls away from him. Francisco is excited and tells her he is sorry for leaving her alone here in the woods. He says if he thought she was ready to quit, he'd have come to see her sooner. Dagny is confused. Francisco confesses that he is deliberately sabotaging his own business because he's on some sort of quest against the looters. Dagny is conflicted and can't quite bring herself to believe that quitting is the right thing to do. Francisco gives her a big pep talk, telling her the looters are basically holding her own virtues for ransom. He tells her she doesn't need them and shouldn't let them use her. But just then a radio announcement breaks in: the Taggart Tunnel in Colorado has collapsed, in one of the worst railroad disasters in history. The Comet went into the tunnel using a coal engine. Smoke from the engine filled the tunnel and everyone started to suffocate. Someone pulled the emergency break and they couldn't get the train moving again. Then another train, an Army Freight, came along, hit the Comet, and caused a massive explosion that brought the entire tunnel down. Only one person escaped alive from the suffocation – the train's fireman, Luke Beal. Dagny screams and runs out to her car. Francisco begs her not to go back, but Dagny isn't listening and drives off frantically.



A magnum opus...

---

मिलिंद काळे, 31st March 2016