The Affliction

The moment he was born, he'd immediately cursed at the affliction, causing the doctors to gasp, his mother to cry. The scientists argued whether he was a product of his environment, or his stars had preordained the shortcoming

His way of coping had always been to cover up who he was. Others accused him of turning his back on his heritage, of betraying his family, but they couldn't understand what it was like for him.

Finally, when he became CEO of his company, he accepted who he was. Perhaps it wasn't so bad being a white, protestant male after all.

The Daily Theme From Figment For March 30, 2012

After trying for years to change something about himself or herself, your character decides in an instant just to live with it.

Middle Management

Alan Alanwich preferred to leave the details to his subordinates. That's what he paid them for after all. He was much too busy to worry over moon landings or oxygen to nitrogen ratios.

But someone had failed to inform him that when the rocket detached, more than half his employees would be left behind. He did not regret their deaths, but who the hell was going to oversee the transition?

Someday, his tombstone would beg the question of how a man who spectacularly failed as a the CEO of his own company managed to build the world's first interplanetary skyscraper.