"The Missing Scene" From Chapter 1 in Anthem

               When we became of age, it was time for us to have our life's determined, to be told what it is we were going to be doing, until becoming "useless." The Council of Vocations had seemed like a distant thing while being educated, but as we grew nearer to judgement, we had been thinking of it quite often. Now that the day has finally fallen upon us, we wish to put our knowledge to good use at the House of Scholars, but we know it is a sin to prefer a job and we know that the council make the best judgement.

               As we awoke on the day of judgement, we felt a disturbing feeling, lodged not in the stomach or any muscle, but the mind and heart. We felt nervous, not because of any immediate danger, but because we felt as if we needed to be a scholar over any others we had been educated with. This is horrible thought to think, but yet we were thinking it. We did our best to repress the feeling and continue on with our day.

                When it came time to be selected, we had lost sight of all things other than our future, individually. We thought with the utmost sincerity that we could better society as a scholar and we hoped that the Council of Vocations would see this. Upon being called to the stand, we were nervous, still. We looked each Council member in their eyes and saw not acceptance, but scrutiny. We knew as a child, we were never liked. We always did wrong and never good. We were not like our brothers and we knew that, the council knew it too. When they called out the words "street sweeper," our heart lurched and quickly stifled our reaction and facial expression despite the sudden disgust we felt. We knew to accept the council's decision and knew it was for the best of society. We decided to make the best of it and keep an attitude of optimism.

                 Before the Council had us swear to our new lives they had one brief discussion together shortly after determining our position in life. They backed into a corner to communicate in private. We could not help but over hear their conversation. They were discussing us, Equality, but they were not saying things we would like to hear. They were reminding the others of our childhood. They had let our intelligence and overall superiority to the others influence their decision. It was a sin to be different, but how could we change it? It was unfair. We knew this but still determined that being a street sweeper was a fine job and that we would do anything we could to help our brothers.