Philip sat across the table from Bobby. Philip both loved and hated his work. He loved his work because he truly believed he could help these poor lost souls. He also hated his work because it made him sick to see how young these dregs of society were. They should be enjoying their youth, not locked up because they were a threat to society. Bobby was one of these threats.

Bobby was fifteen years old. It started innocently enough. All he did was pocket an item at a store without paying for it. The feeling he got when he got away with it was intoxicating. So he did it again but the feeling wasn’t as high. So the next time he raised the stakes. Each time he raised the stakes, the feeling got better. Bobby was addicted. He wasn’t addicted to drugs, he was addicted to the thrill of getting away with theft. It wasn’t long though before Bobby’s luck ran out. The first time he was caught stealing, it was something small. The next time he was caught it was something bigger. Soon he had a reputation. Finally he ended in a youth detention center.

Philip knew that other than Bobby’s thrill of getting away with stealing, that he was otherwise a good kid. If Bobby could just get over it, he could easily turn his life around but no matter how Philip applied his years of training to Bobby’s situation, Bobby didn’t change. In fact, Philip could see that Bobby was getting worse and he didn’t know what to do about it. He couldn’t talk Bobby out of his obsession.

That night Philip sat alone at his desk. He was depressed. He wanted to make a difference but no matter what he did, there was always somebody else who needed saving. Philip wasn’t sure he could go on like that. Maybe he needed to consider another career. The turnover rate in his profession was high for that very reason. Many of his peers get depressed because they realize that they are not making the difference they thought they would and dealing with the problems of others can weigh a person down.

As Philip sat there feeling sorry for himself, he heard a knock at his door. When he answered it, it was his old friend George. Philip hadn’t seen George for many years and had actually lost track of him. They were friends once, but now they didn’t really know anything about each other, except that the other person existed. Philip asked George to come in and offered him a drink. George declined the drink offer and said that he had some business to talk to Philip about.

George could see that something was upsetting Philip so he asked him about it. Philip explained the situation with Bobby and how nothing he seemed to do helped the young person. George said he could help Bobby. George explained that Bobby’s mind was simply out of balance. George gave Philip a supplement that could restore the balance that Bobby is missing. Philip wasn’t sure he understood what George was talking about, but if it would help Bobby, he needed to give it a shot since nothing else he did seemed to matter. George gave Philip a month’s supply of the supplement and Philip promised to give him one dose a day while the supply lasted. George gave Philip his business card and asked him to keep him informed and let him know how the supplement worked out. George left and Philip went to bed.

The next day, Philip felt uneasy. He didn’t know anything about the supplement but he was in a desperate situation. He really wanted to save Bobby. When Philip saw Bobby the next day, he gave Bobby the supplement in his drink and Bobby took it. This went on for the next month. Over time Bobby became less interested in stealing. He said he remembered that he did it. He said he remembered the feeling he got when he did it but that he didn’t feel that way anymore. Philip was amazed. He had never seen such a dramatic turnaround.

Bobby was sent home. He had made such a dramatic turnaround in his attitude and behavior that Philip recommended that he be released. Once at home, it was expected by those who knew how these things usually worked out, that Bobby would return to his life of crime. It wouldn’t be too long before Bobby would once again find himself removed from the general population for the sake of society. The thing was, Bobby never did return to his life of crime. When he said he didn’t feel like stealing anymore, he was telling the truth. When Bobby returned to school, He didn’t hang out with his old friends, he got new ones. He applied himself to his studies and was soon ranking near the top of his class. Everyone who had an intimate knowledge of his case, along with all the people who knew his reputation, were shocked. It was like he was replaced with someone who looked like him, but was in fact someone who acted completely different.

Philip called George. He explained the dramatic turnaround to George and asked George what was in the supplement. George explained that the reason why people did things that were against their own interests, was because their brain wasn’t working the right way. It was out of balance. The brain is very complicated, George said, we have spent many years trying to decipher it. It has finally been deciphered. You have to fix the part of the brain that is broken. George explained that the supplement that Bobby took rewired his brain. It fixed the part that was broken so instead of him trying to resist an impulse to steal that was constantly nagging at him, the supplement merely removed the impulse.

Philip couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Did George mean to imply that all the problems in the world were a result of faulty brain wiring? That the methods that psychologists have spent a century perfecting to help people were irrelevant. Philip felt like he had wasted his entire life. If you could just give somebody a pill and fix all their problems, what was the point of being a psychologist?

Philip asked George how this was possible. George simply answered that there had been a breakthrough. George thanked Philip for giving him the update. Philip hung up the phone. He was happy for Bobby but the fact that Bobby was better didn’t make his depression go away. Even if George had found the key to making everyone better, how would he deploy his solution?

There were many issues at the youth detention center. One of the issues was violence. The detainees had organized themselves into gangs and were constantly fighting each other. There were drugs. It was unclear how the drugs were getting into the facility, but several detainees had been caught administering drugs to themselves. It was a battle that never ended but with George’s supplement, Philip thought, maybe it could end.

Philip continued with his work. He continued trying to help the young people that were assigned to him. A lot of the young people didn’t want Philip’s help. They just wanted to do what they wanted to do. Philip started to think a lot about what George had said. The more he thought about it the more sense it made. What was the point in trying to help these young people when all they want to do is the thing that is destroying their lives? Philip didn’t know what to do. This new revelation of the importance of his life’s work was too much for him to take.

Philip started drinking. He knew that alcohol wasn’t the answer, but he needed something to dull the numbness he was starting to feel. Philip went home every night from his meaningless job, got drunk and passed out. He woke up the next day and repeated the process. Before too long it turned into a habit

Philip sat across the table from Jeff. Jeff was seventeen years old. He was one of the violent youth that belonged to the most prominent gang in the facility. He had the respect, or at least the fear of everyone he came across. He liked it that way. He liked the feeling of power it gave him. To know that everybody had better watch how they treated him was an amazing feeling because he was the one that mattered, not them. It was them who had to watch what they said and how they acted. He could act however he wanted and they would have to put up with it whether they liked it or not. They would have to pretend to like it.

Jeff was close to becoming an adult. Once he became an adult, if he didn’t conform to the standards of society, he would be transferred to an adult facility. Philip knew if that happened, Jeff wouldn’t be the one in charge anymore. He would be the one who would have to put up with the way other people acted and pretend to like it. Philip had tried to drill this idea into Jeff’s head, but Jeff wasn’t interested. He was addicted to the power trip he was on. He had no idea what was going to happen when the power he wanted to hold on to would be gone but Philip knew.

That night Philip called his friend George. He explained the situation that Jeff was in and that nothing he had tried had changed Jeff’s mind. Philip asked George for more of the supplement. He told George that it was Jeff’s only chance. Jeff’s mind needed to be re-wired. Philip begged George to give him more. George told Philip to relax. He would be happy to provide more of the supplement. George told Philip he would come over and that everything would be ok.

George did come over. He brought the supplement with him. He gave him a month’s supply. Philip started giving the supplement to Jeff. He didn’t tell Jeff he was doing it, he had the supplement mixed in with Jeff’s food. Jeff started changing, just as Bobby changed. Jeff wasn’t interested in the violence anymore. Jeff told Philip he wasn’t getting high on the power trips anymore. He said he wanted to do something with his life that mattered. Jeff started listening to Philip when he gave him advice. For everyone that knew Jeff, the turnaround was amazing. Nobody could believe he was the same person. Right before Jeff turned 18, Philip recommended his release. Like Bobby, everybody who had knowledge of his reputation, expected him to revert to his old behavior. But like Bobby, Jeff didn’t go back to the way he was. He got his GED and enrolled in classes at the community college. He stayed out of trouble and started getting a different reputation. A better reputation.

Philip was not amazed this time. He expected the change. He knew that whatever George had provided really worked. It worked regardless of the attitude of the person it was working on. He needed to get this supplement to the entire facility. He called George back. He told George about how the rest of the detainees needed his supplement. George said he would do it but first Philip must take the supplement himself. Philip was a little shocked. George said that once Philip took the supplement himself, he would have a clear balanced mind and everything would make sense. He said that Bobby now has a clear mind and Jeff now has a clear mind. He said Philip need a clear mind as well. George told Philip if he didn’t take the supplement himself, He wasn’t going to help him anymore. It just had to be that way.

Philip told George he would think about it and get back to him. George told him not to think about it too long. Philip couldn’t sleep. He thought about the implications of George’s supplement. Did he really not see clearly? What was there to see that he was missing? If he took the supplement, he could continue his life’s work and really make a difference. The next morning, Philip called George and said he would do it. When the supplement arrived, Philip began taking it. He took it every day for the next month.

When the month was over. Philip felt great. His depression lifted and although he wasn’t quite sure when it happened, he stopped his habit of getting drunk. Philip also noticed that he didn’t want to feel sorry for himself anymore. His mind was clear. He experienced what Bobby and Jeff had experienced and it was incredible. It was like being woken up out of a deep sleep. He now understood that everybody’s mind needed to be re-wired. It wasn’t just the troubled young people at the detention center. It was everybody. As soon as everybody’s brain was re-wired, all the problems of the world would be solved.

He was now in a position to make a real difference. He didn’t have to talk someone out of their obsessions anymore. All the nonsense he learned in school was just that, nonsense. He had a hard time with the fact that he believed it all just a month ago. It was all foolishness to him now. There was only one course of action that would really help. He had to get that supplement to everybody in the detention center.

Philip thought the easiest way to do it was to put it in the drinking supply. The person who was in charge of the drinking supply, was addicted to coffee. Philip, as a gesture of friendship, starting bringing that person coffee every morning. The person, realizing they don’t have to spend money on their habit anymore, graciously accepted Philip’s gesture. Philip slipped the supplement into the person’s coffee and after a few weeks, He noticed a change in the person’s behavior. It was at this time that Philip approached the person with his plan to distribute the supplement throughout the facility. The person agreed to do it. Their mind had been cleared. They even stopped drinking coffee.

With the right person in place, Philip put his plan to work and started distributing the supplement to the entire facility. Both the staff and the detainees took it. After a couple weeks, the violence stopped. The gangs were no longer interested in fighting each other. The drugs stopped. The person who had been smuggling them in, turned in his supplier to the authorities. Philip’s plan had worked. Everybody’s mind had been cleared and as a result, they were acting in the best interest of everybody, including themselves. After this point the facility ran smoothly. Philip’s sessions with the detainees were no longer necessary. Philip didn’t need to tell anybody what to do, they could see what they needed to do for themselves because for the first time in their lives, their minds were clear.

Philip called George. He told George that everything went according to plan and that the entire facility had been cured. George said that was great news. George said that the facility was a field test and that the test went as planned. Philip asked George what was going to happen next. George only said that Philip did his part to save humanity and that if he wanted to know what was going to happen next, he should keep an eye on the news.

The facility soon got attention from the state. It was running so smooth that the administrator of the facility won an award. The board that oversaw all the detention facilities wanted to take a tour and see for themselves how things had changed. The Administrator welcomed them and showed them all around. They were very impressed with how all the detainees behaved. When the board asked who was responsible, the administrator told them that the person responsible would be giving them a speech at lunch time.

When the board sat for lunch, they were all served food and drinks from the cafeteria. Philip started speaking about how the brain needed to be re-wired. Once the brain was re-wired, people would see clearly and act in a way that is beneficial to everyone. The board asked how this was possible. There is a supplement which is capable of doing it. Everyone in this facility has taken it, and now all of you have taken it as well.

The board looked around in horror. It took a minute for them to process what Philip was saying. Had Philip slipped some kind of drug into their food? Had he somehow poisoned them all? What was going to happen to them? They demanded to know what the meaning of it all was. Philip explained that everybody’s mind was clouded because everybody’s mind had a defect. He simply wanted to clear everybody’s head. The board said that was preposterous and almost as one they all left.

After a few days an investigative agent arrived. After Philip’s speech, the board felt like something was terribly wrong at the facility and sent an investigator to find out what it was. The director said that they had nothing to hide and that everybody would co-operate fully with the investigation. The investigator said that the board claimed that they were threatened when they were here and that some kind of mind control was being used on the detainees to assure their compliance. The director stated that mind control of the type the board was suggesting was illegal and that the director would never approve of methods which employed them. The investigator thanked the director but said that he would make up his own mind about what was going on.

The investigator started by interviewing the staff. The staff explained the procedures to the investigator and claimed that the procedures are the same procedures that have been in place for years. The investigator asked how almost overnight the detainee’s changed. The staff couldn’t explain it except to say that one day, the just started acting different. The investigator thought the whole thing was strange, he had been around the block a few times and he knew people just didn’t change for no reason.

The investigator interviewed the detainees next. Every detainee he interviews had the same story. They remembered all the things they did that were wrong and just didn’t feel like doing them anymore. The investigator asked how that was possible but the detainee’s didn’t know. They just know their feelings had changed. They said everything looked clearer. The drug addicts said they didn’t feel like doing drugs anymore and the gangs said they didn’t feel like fighting anymore.

After a week of trying to get to the bottom of what was going on, the investigator felt different himself. Thing started occurring to him that hadn’t occurred to him before. He realized that he had stopped indulging in his own vices. He used to like to smoke and watch suggestive videos on the internet. He suddenly noticed that he didn’t feel like doing those things anymore. He was more interested in helping people than helping himself. As an investigator, he was always digging for the truth and he enjoyed finding things out, especially if it was going to be bad news for somebody. But now his mind was clear and he couldn’t explain it.

The investigator interviewed Philip again. He asked him directly what was going on and why was he feeling different about things. Philip explained that simply his mind had been cleared to see things the way it was supposed to. The investigator asked how that was possible. Philip calmly explained that when the investigator was here, that without his knowledge a supplement was added to his food supply. That supplement is responsible for the changes he was experiencing. Philip further explained that everyone in the facility has taken it.

Suddenly everything made sense. The detainee’s felt the same way he was feeling. That’s why they stopped their destructive behavior. Philip asked if the investigator had contacted the board recently. The investigator said he would be contacting them once his investigation is completed. Philip told the investigator that his investigation is now completed. The investigator knew everything. Philip told him to go tell the board his findings.

The investigator reported to the board. The investigator said that he didn’t find any indication that the policies put in place where not being followed and could not explain the sudden change in behavior in the detainees. He further expressed that he could not find any evidence that any mind control experiments were being conducted at the facility.

The board was at a loss. They were sure that something was going on. The investigator suggested that if the board had further concerns, that maybe one of them should go and conduct an investigation without the knowledge of the staff. Maybe they would find something out that was not previously known about the facility. The board agreed that one of them should go undercover and get to the bottom of whatever was going on at the facility.

On Monday of the next week. The board member in question started a new job at the facility as someone who cleaned laundry. People who were required to do that kind of work usually didn’t stay long at the facility unless they really needed a job and the turnover rate was high. It was easy to place the board member using this pretense. Once the board member was in the facility, they started asking questions about why the detainees were so well behaved, but the other members of the maintenance staff didn’t have any answers.

From the first day that the board member started working there, they were introduced without their knowledge to the supplement that George had given Philip to administer to the facility. After about a week the board member started to notice that he didn’t want to drink anymore. His wife had been nagging him to quit for years and he had been blowing her off but now he wanted to quit. His mind was starting to clear and things started making sense. It was clear that whatever was happening to him needed to happen to everybody and it was his duty to his fellow man to make sure it happened.

The next day he went into Philip’s office and revealed himself to be a member of the broad. He asked Philip what was going on. Philip explained that his mind had been damaged and that the supplement that he had been given corrected the problem. Philip further explained that everybody’s mind is damaged and that everybody’s mind needed to be fixed. He said that everybody at the facility had undergone this treatment. The board member said he needed the rest of the board to understand, then they could introduce this supplement to all the facilities in the entire state. Philip told him to go back and gave him some of the supplement to give to the rest of the board.

When the board had been given an initial dose at the facility, for the following months, the board member who had gone undercover gave a dose to the rest of the board at the monthly board meetings. After about 6 months, the board members started to notice a change. They began to feel differently. The destructive habits that they had started to fade. It was at this time that the board approved a measure to have the supplement added to the diet of everyone at all of the correctional facilities run by the state.

Within a month after introducing the supplement at the correctional facilities, all of the behaviors that the staff had tried to correct using traditional methods stopped. It was nothing short of amazing. Philip had contacted George to let him know how much his supplement had done to help all the detainees at all the facilities. George thanked Philip for all of his help. George said the scope of the project that he had undertaken was much larger than the correctional facilities, they were just a test run. Philip asked George what he was going to do. George said he was going to give the supplement to every person in the entire world!

Several months had past. The detainees had all been reformed. There was no need to keep them locked up any longer. They no longer posed a danger to society or to themselves. Every one of their cases were examined and according to the law, each one of them was set free. It didn’t just happen in the facility that Philip worked at, it happened in all the facilities. The facilities were not shut down but they were now empty. Each detainee was given the supplement to give to others after their release. It was like an Army but they had no guns. They had no bullets. They were not out to kill people, only wake them up.

Philip sat in his office. He had nothing to do because there was no one else who needed his help. The thing that he had wanted his entire life had finally happened and he got to be a part of it. As he was thinking about this, a man came to his office. The man was an agent of the federal government. He stated that Philip was to come with him for questioning. Philip did not hesitate to comply. He had done nothing wrong. If he was going to be accused of helping these poor unfortunate souls find peace, he was guilty. They were better now. They were happier now.

Philip was blindfolded and taken somewhere. He did not know where he was. It did not matter. When the blindfold was removed he was in a small room with a bright light in it. There was no place to sit. He hands were restrained behind his back so he had no way to shield his eyes from the light apart from closing them as tight as he could. He could not see a door. It’s not because a door was not there but it was because he could not see past the bright light. If this had happened to him before his mind was cleared, he would have been afraid, but he was not afraid now. It did not matter what they did to him. He was sure that they would not stop the awakening that was going to sweep over the Earth. Philip was not a religious man. He never understood before how men could become fanatical over another person’s declared hallucinations, but he understood now. He was fanatical. He was sure that this was the salvation that mankind needed to survive and he was willing to give his life for its cause.

Philip was left alone for several days. He was deprived of food and was given water to drink out of a bowl like a cat. The reason why he was treated this way was to weaken his will and make him more willing to co-operate with those who had captured him. On the fifth day of his imprisonment he was taken to another room. He was placed at a desk. A man sat on the other side and started asking him questions.

The man showed him a picture of a person who had been a detainee at the facility in which Philip worked. The man asked Philip if he knew who the person in the picture was. Philip identified the man as being from the detention facility. The man then showed Philip a bag that contained a substance that looked like some kind of drug. The man asked Philip if he had ever seen it before. Philip confessed that he had. The man asked Philip if he was the one who supplied the substance in the bag. Philip admitted that he had done it. The man asked him what it was. Philip told him that everyone’s mind was damaged and that the substance in the bag was designed to repair that damage. The man asked if the substance in the bag was mind altering. Philip said that it was. The man asked Philip if he had taken the substance himself. Philip said that he had. Philip told the man that he also needed to have his mind repaired and that he should take some himself. The man said that Philip had been identified as the ring leader of some kind of drug trafficking operation. The operation was on a scale that nobody had ever seen before. Philip told the man that there was an awakening coming and that there was nothing that he or anybody else could do to stop it. Philip claimed that the very survival of mankind depended on it and that he would soon know the truth himself. The man thought that Philip was a drug crazed lunatic. He was sure that Philip was someone who could help uncover what was going on and possibly stop it before it was too late. After the man thought about it, it seemed that Philip was more like a religious lunatic than a drug crazed lunatic and that was worse.

Philip was back in his cell. It didn’t look like a cell, it was the same room with the same bright light as before. Philip was left there to rot. He was given 2 meals a day which came whenever they decided to give it to him but he didn’t care. He knew that when they all had their minds cleared that he would be released.

The man who interrogated Philip could tell that Philip didn’t care. He could also tell that Philip didn’t believe he was hiding anything. It was going to be difficult getting information out of him when he wasn’t really hiding anything to begin with.

They analyzed the substance that they found on the former detainee. They were sure that it contained some kind of mind controlling additive but when they analyzed it, they didn’t find anything illegal. They also didn’t find anything that could be considered habit forming. There was nothing in the substance that could be considered threatening and yet they were terrified of it. Where did it come from? Who was manufacturing it? Where was it being manufactured? Philip didn’t know the answer to any of those questions because George never told him. They had sent several agents to try and find out where it was being made but each one came back empty handed. Not only did they come back empty handed but they were changed somehow.

It took some time but one of the chemists working for the agency figured it out. The substance effected several parts of the brain at the same time. While it remove additive behavior it also made everyone single minded in purpose. It somehow gave everyone the same perspective. The same viewpoint of life. The substance was being used to convert each person into a vast army. But what was this army’s true purpose? Was there a way to counteract its effects? The chemist worked tirelessly to figure it out. By knowing what areas of the brain it targeted, perhaps he could figure out what the opposite was? He worked for weeks while Philip sat to rot inside his cell.

Philip was interrogated on a regular basis. He was asked where the substance was being produced. He was asked what the purpose of the substance was. He was asked who his contacts were to get the substance. Philip said that if they wanted their questions answered, they should take the substance themselves and their minds would be cleared and they would know for themselves. They knew that they were getting nowhere with Philip. The reason why they didn’t let Philip go is because they needed a test subject. The Chemist was trying to find an antidote to the substance and Philip was going to be the trail.

The day finally arrived. The chemist figured something out and they started putting it in Philip’s food supply. It took about a week before Philip began to notice that he was changing. He started getting nervous about where he was. When they interrogated him he didn’t talk like a religious fanatic anymore. They knew the antidote was working. Philip told them everything he could. He told them about George and how George first came to him. He told them about how he changed after he took the substance for himself. He remembered how happy he was once his ‘mind’ was cleared. He wasn’t happy anymore. The fears that haunted him came back. He desperately wanted to drink again but they wouldn’t give him anything. Philip cursed them for clouding his mind again. He wanted to be free.

The men that interrogated Philip said that the substance was being used to create a vast army. Did Philip know what the purpose of that army was? Philip only knew that the plan was to clear the mind of every person in the entire world. Once that happened, all the wars would stop and everyone would look out for each other. Philip asked what was wrong with that.

What about free will? The man who was interrogating Philip asked. Doesn’t everybody have the right to decide what they want to do with their lives? Philip responded by saying that free will didn’t exist. It was an illusion that the mind made up to believe that it was special from other living things. Philip explained that everybody did whatever their mind was wired to do and if their mind was rewired, they would do something else. Will had nothing to do with it. So what was wrong with changing everybody’s will so that they wanted to help people?

Philip sat in his cell. He was nervous all the time now. He didn’t know what was going to happen to him. When his mind was clear, he didn’t care what happened to him. He knew what his purpose was. Now his mind was cloudy. He was unsure. All he wanted to do was help people and now he felt like he was being sacrificed as a pawn in a game much larger than he had ever imagined.

The interrogations continued but they seemed to have no purpose. The questions didn’t make sense. It seemed like some twisted game that he was forced to participate in. Philip was losing hope that he would ever be free again.

During one of the interrogations, the man interrogating Philip told him that they had located a huge processing facility that was making this substance. They told Philip that the facility had been destroyed by agents. They also told Philip that thousands of people had been detained and given the antidote. Soon this conspiracy that threatens all mankind will be eliminated. Philip didn’t know if what the agent had said was true or not. Philip didn’t know what kind of reaction the agent was expecting. Philip didn’t care about the cause anymore. He just wanted his old life back.

Philip went back to his cell and he waited. He didn’t know what he was waiting for. He was just waiting for something to happen. Then something happened. He was released. He was blindfolded and driven back to his home and left there. He didn’t know how long he had been gone. He didn’t know what had happened while he was away. He didn’t even know if his job was still waiting for him. He went to bed. It felt good to be in his own bed again. He slept for a long time. When he woke up he was hungry. He went to a local diner to eat.

The people that were in the diner seemed to act strange. He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or not. They all looked at him like he was from another planet. It made him nervous. He ate his meal and then went to his job. The detention facility was still there. The staff was still there but there were no detainees. He was called into the director’s office. The director asked him where he had been.

He explained all the things that had happened to him. He told her how he was put through mental stress and that he did not reveal anything. He said that they told him that thousands of people had been rounded up and that there was something that would reverse the effects of the substance that they all had taken. The director told Philip that everything was ok. The operation was successful. Everybody on the whole planet was awake now except for him.