[recycle++]
On a USO tour with Mother Teresa, Kissinger and Doug Henwood, Hitch hits the bottle early (could you blame him, with this sort of company?). Halfway through the flight, in the midst of extreme turbulence, the sole pilot makes a brief appearance to hand out three parachutes before leaping to safety using his own.
Kissinger grabs one of the three packs, exclaims that the world needs a Nobel laureate peacemaker such as himself, and exits the plane.
Hitch lunges at one of the two packs, grabbing himself one, and barely able to conceal his glee, announces "The world needs me, for I am the smartest man on the planet!". And out he goes!
The good lady turns to young Henwood and advices, "Good fellow, you are in the prime of your life. A Manhattan socialite with a far flung mailing list empire, you deserve to see more. I have exhausted my use on this planet. Please, take the remaining parachute".
"No worries, grandma", responds the alert lad, "We both have parachutes. The smartest man in the world just jumped out with my backpack".
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And that I believe is my quota. Good night, peace, love and all that other stuff that ain't gonna happen,
--ravi