Atlas Shakes His Head in Disbelief

In Ayn Rand's epic novel Atlas Shrugged, the producers of the world go on strike in protest of being attacked for their work, and stop the "motor of the world". Now we have the opposite happening, students in France, who have never produced anything are rioting over the possibility that they might have to in the future. Now students in California, and elsewhere, are walking out of class in protest of the possibility that they might have to follow the law. What are they going to do if we don't meet their demands, contribute even less to society?

"If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater the effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders--what would you tell him to do?"

"I . . . don't know. What . . . could he do? What would you tell him?"

"To shrug."