Second Policeman [shaking their heads]. This is no place for us. [Exit Left.]
Artist [to the Young Man]. Does it begin to dawn on you that true love of one's neighbor would not only be monotonous but unbearable as well.
Young Man. Out there a man is drowning—and you stand there moralizing.
Artist. Why not? We read a dozen suicides every day. [x to Chair Left.] Yet we go home and eat our dinner with undiminished relish. Why then sentimentalize over a drowning beggar? I wouldn't rescue a man who had fallen into the water much less one who had jumped in.
Young Man [passionately]. Sir—I despise you! [Goes into the crowd.]
[A man has succeeded in prying up the life buoy, now he throws it into the water with the warning cry "Look out."]
Artist. Love of one's neighbor is a mask. A mask that people wear to hide from themselves their real faces.
American [x to Artist Left]. No, I don't agree with you. I am strong for love of one's neighbor. Indeed, the Bible tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Oh, I am very strong for it. I go to Church on Sundays in the U. S. A. I never touch a drop—in the U. S. A.
Voice. The life buoy is sinking.
Another Voice. That's why they call it a life buoy. [Laughter.]