Those Amazing Young People

Twenty-four hours a day, someone was always running away, someone was always trying to catch him. In the dark night of thousands of sins outside, people are dying, people are maimed, people have their throats cut by flying glass, hit on steering wheels, and crushed to death under heavy tires. People were beaten, robbed, strangled, and murdered; people were hungry and sick; people were bored, desperate, angry, cruel, fanatical, crying and trembling because of loneliness or regret or fear. A city that is no worse than other cities, a city that is rich, prosperous, full of self-respect, a city that is lost, defeated, full of emptiness. It all depends on your position and your personal achievements. I don't. I don't care. ——Raymond Chandler, "The Long Goodbye"