The Pounders

By Kevin J. Curtis


    On the Planet Ganus 12, things were not good. There was a rift that had developed between the inhabitants and it was blamed on how they looked—rather than how they acted. It was looked at superficially without ever trying to understand the true reality of the unfortunate situation.

    The Pounders looked like everyone else in most ways. They had two eyes, two arms, two legs a nose and mouth just like everyone did. Except that they had wedge-shaped heads. Oh don’t get me wrong, there was nothing substantially wrong with their heads; they were just wedge-shaped. The Pounders’ heads were of relatively normal size and were topped by normal looking hair.

    Most Pounders went to school, had jobs and were hardly noticed by the rest of society—except for one thing. A certain percentage of Pounders were involved in an activity that had led to the unfortunate name this group had become known by. There were some who for no apparent reason, would suddenly jump upon an unsuspecting victim and pound that person with their fists!

    After some time, other people became wary of the Pounders; even if most of them didn’t usually pound anyone. But the trouble was, there was no way to know if the Pounder standing next to you on the street corner was merely waiting for the traffic signal or if they were ready to pound you!

    Even the police had to take notice of the trend. They began eyeing the Pounders suspiciously. This was unfortunate for the majority of Pounders who were not engaged in pounding other people. This went on for a long while and no one thought much about why the Pounders were more likely to pound people than non-Pounders were. But over time, the blame began to shift toward the non-Pounders.

    It was argued that the non-Pounders were acting negatively toward the Pounders. Non-Pounders, it was argued, did not want Pounders working in their businesses or coming into their establishments. The police were even condemned for handling Pounders too severely when they were called in to stop a pounding or to arrest a Pounder who had just perpetrated a pounding.

   So this went on and on until eventually the Pounders had had enough! They organized protests and boycotts and publicly condemned the mistreatment that they had received at the hands of the non-Pounder community. They were joined by non-Pounders who agreed with them and who had their own reasons for making sure that all Pounders were treated fairly!

   Still, no one sought to address the underlying issues. Was it poor parenting? Was it a lack of education? What was the primary cause of the Pounders propensity toward pounding people? It was largely decided through public opinion, that the root cause of the pounding issue was the fault of non-Pounders, police, the system, education and lack of opportunities. In no way were the Pounders responsible for their own behavior. As this notion prevailed, new generations of Pounders were brought up to believe that they were always in the right and so they continued pounding and protesting and relations between the various groups continued to deteriorate.

   Finally, after a long struggle, the issue of Pounder rights was taken up by the Supreme Court of Ganus 12! In a unanimous decision, the court ruled in favor of Pounder rights and so Pounders were given special considerations in hiring and housing and other areas where they had been discriminated against in the past.

   But it was not enough. The Pounders were angry, the non-Pounders felt guilty. One non-Pounder spoke to a news reporter from his hospital bed while recovering from a recent pounding and said that he was indeed “asking for” a pounding when he was assaulted.

   Finally, the President of Ganus 12 spoke on television and said that any disrespect of the Pounders would not be tolerated on Ganus 12! Anyone caught discriminating against Pounders would be severely punished. There was much cheering and revelry after the important speech and the President was very pleased with himself. And as he got out of his car and began to walk to the front door of his house, a person with a wedge-shaped head jumped out from behind the bushes and pounded him!