Vignette One
Tina gets a promotion after completing a master’s degree she earned through the tuition reimbursement program in her company - a large company in a competitive industry. She is part of the Research and Development department and is in charge of many trade secrets. She decides that companies are oppressive and constrain her right to associate in whatever way she desires with whomever she may wish. Tina delivers patent information to a competitor in exchange for a seat on the board of a prestigious industry think tank. She pats herself on the back for her openness and ingenuity until she is fired, sued, and jailed for breaking the rules and working against the company that made it all possible for her.
Vignette Two
John decides that he understands better how to be an American than the people who supposedly "wrote" the Constitution of the United States. "The Constitution is an outdated document," he says. "It was fine for the people of that day, but times have changed so much that it doesn’t really apply." He believes that "nations" are artificial and limiting constructs – we need to be more inclusive. He avoids paying his taxes and instead sends his money to France. He brags about his accomplishments until he is jailed for failure to follow the law and beat up in prison as one who aligned himself with a nation that speaks against us.
Vignette Three
Heath goes away to college and becomes a "progressive" Christian. He throws off the shackles of his religious past and claims, "My intelligence tells me that the Bible is not really true, not really trustworthy, not really relevant for today." He talks a good game and convinces others of weak and vacillating faith that they too should not trust the scriptures. The people he influences go on to reject much of what is right and true about the historic beliefs of his "old" faith and create a whole new set of standards by which they think God should interact with man. Heath earns the praise of enlightened pagans and feels quite content with his work until he is cast into the outer darkness of Hell by the God he was so sure did not exist but who did indeed have standards.