The Grateful Slave
By Paines Torch


I am a grateful slave.
My master is a good man.
He gives me food, shelter, work and other things.
All he requires in return is that I obey him.
I am told he has the power to control my life.
I look up to him and wish that I were so powerful.


My master must understand the world better than I,
because he was chosen by many others for his respected position.
I sometimes complain, but I fear I cannot live without his help.

He is a good man.



ote for no master, but he generously lets me choose between two candidates he has selected.
I eagerly await until election day, since voting allows me to forget that I am a slave.
Until then, my current master tells me what to do. I accept this.
It has always been so, and I would not change tradition.
My master is a good man.


At the last election, about half of the slaves were allowed to vote.
The other half had broken rules set by the master, or were not thought by him to be fit.
Those who break the rules should know better than to disobey!
Those not considered fit should gratefully accept the master chosen for them by others.
It is right because we have always done it this way.
There are two candidates.
One received a majority of the vote – about one-fourth of the slave population.
I asked why the new master can rule over all the slaves, if he only received votes from one-fourth of them?


My master said “Because some wise masters long ago did it that way.”
Besides, you are slaves and we are the master.
I do not understand his answer, but I believe him.
He is a good man.

Some slaves have evil masters. They take more than half of their slaves' money and are chosen by only one-tenth rather than one-fourth, of their slaves. My master says they are different from him.
I believe him. He is a good man.

I asked if I could ever become a master, instead of a slave. My master said, "Yes, anything is possible." 'But first you must pledge allegiance to your present master, and promise not to abandon the system that made you a slave." I am encouraged by this possibility. My master is a good man.

He tells me slaves are the real masters, because they can vote for their masters. I do not understand this, but I believe him. He is a good man; who lives for no other purpose than to make his slaves happy. I asked if I could be neither a master nor a slave.
My master said, "No, you must be one or the other." There are not other choices." I believe him.
He knows best. He is a good man.
I asked my master how our system is different, from those evil masters. He said: "In our system, masters work for the slaves."
No longer confused, I am beginning to accept his logic.

Now I see it!

Slaves are in control of their masters, because they can choose new masters every few years.
When the masters appear to control the slaves in between elections, it is all a grand delusion!
In reality, they are carrying out the slaves' desires.
For, if this were not so, they would not have been chosen in the last election, How clear it is to me now!
I shall never doubt the system again. My master is a good man.