Author's Note: Contains ambiguity and unexplained symbolism. And it's written in a different style than I normally use.

"They say they'll remember you. They say they'll think of you, but they never do, boy. Saving lives?"

Pause. Raise glass to lips. Put down glass.
Swallow.

"You're saving nothing because everybody dies someday, and maybe it's not alone, and maybe it's not as cold and wet and pitiful, but it's still death." And say that last bit as to a man condemned.

"Sure, they'll thank you. And you'll all celebrate, and you'll laugh and you'll be friends, and you'll have a merry time, but it won't mean anything." Emphasize mean.

"And if for some reason it does mean anything, it'll be nothing but trouble." The glass should be lifted by now- set it down with a thunk like a gavel. "Trouble for you. When you care, you learn things you never want to, and see things you'll wish you hadn't seen in years to come. You learn, boy, about the cruelty of the world through your own suffering, and everybody knows that. What they don't know is that you learn it through the suffering of others. Through your friends."

Pause. Pause for a long time.
Let them think it's to add drama to a good yarn.