Who Is John Galt Anyways?

I’ve begun the “quest for intellect and enlightenment” chapter of my life. I’m reading “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. You know the book, right? The Political Debate Bible. The book that the peeps who are arguing over who is better, Republicans or Democrats and what is wrong with our world today…throw out quotes from chapters, paragraphs and sentences like a Preacher does the Holy Bible. ( Either-Or Chpt5, Pg. 505 paragraph 3 sentence 2 where it says blah, blah blah). But half the time, with “Atlas Shrugged”, the non-enlightened one is left scratching their head wondering WTF is that person talking about. Kind of like how I will have used to be, once I finish this book.

So yeah. I’m reading THAT book. So far, I completely understand it and am in awe of Ayn Rands mad metaphorical writing skillz.

There are a few reasons why I’m reading it. One of which I already mentioned. I’d like to be a psuedo-intellectual smart person. The other is…when someone asks me what I’m reading and I reply “Atlas Shrugged” and it’s the same answer for the next two years, they’ll completely understand. That book is LONG. I figure that I’ll be done by December 2012, just in time for the end of the world. Really, the other couple of reasons are so unimportant that I’ve completely forgotten them.

There is this question that is repeated throughout the book. It simply asks “Who is John Galt?”

I don’t know the answer yet. I’m only 50 pages into the 1200 page book. See…that’s why it’s going to take me 2 years. And if you’ve read it…don’t tell me who John Galt is. I want to find out for myself.

Today, as I was driving home from my sons gymnastics class where I sat and read the book, there was a some sort of foreign make, light colored station wagon or crossover driving in the lane next to me. A little bit ahead of me. And I was speeding so they were going a bit faster than I was. I noticed a plain white bumper sticker with black letters asking…

WHO IS JOHN GALT?

I was like…OMG. Excitedly, I raced that car and waved frantically to them. At a red light, we both rolled down our windows and I held up my HUGE “Atlas Shrugged” book. The nice older couple who were a little taken aback by my exuberance at seeing their bumper sticker, both gave me the thumbs up sign and as soon as the light turned green…sped away. Probably pedal to the metal. I think I may have freaked them out a bit. But I was so excited that I knew what that bumper sticker was about.

I told my husband about the incident. He thought I was nuts…which I might be. Because who in their right mind waves down an unsuspecting old couple (you never know about heart problems and it would suck to be the cause of a heart attack or something) due to thinking they were all smart and stuff because they understood a stupid bumper sticker. Seriously. But he also said that he had seen that bumper sticker somewhere and he had no clue what it meant. I told him that it’s because he isn’t as intellectual or as enlightened as I am. Poor chap. I always knew I was destined to be smarter than him anyways. And this is only 50 pages in. Imagine how much smarter and which bumper stickers I’ll get when I’m 100 pages in.

I might start understanding why people who shop at Wal-Mart are all sorts of nasty, too.

Anyways, somewhere I digressed in this whole story. Back to my point…

After I freaked out that old couple. I drove through Burger King. Because I happen to enjoy their grilled chicken sandwich far more than McDonalds. Also, my son loves the Iron Man toys they have right now. And I started thinking…

Who is John Galt? What does Atlas have to do with this? Why does this book have to be so darn long? Medium fries or large with that sandwich?

See…I’m getting deeper and more intellectual by the page.

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