Good vs Evil   - Yet Another Fable
by Martin Green

 

 

Good had been up early to see the sun rise over his mountain home.  Then, as he had his breakfast, like many of us, he watched the TV news.  However, his especially made TV set broadcast the news from all around the world.  Unfortunately, that news was just as bad if not worse than what we see.  War in Ukraine.  War in the Mideast.  Earthquakes in various places.  Starvation in others.  And the US was as divided as ever, maybe even more so.  Good could not deny it, his old antagonist - Evil - was winning.

There was a knock on the door.  Good opened it and there was Evil himself.  That was a surprise.  Evil sometimes left his dank underground cave to visit Good in his airy mountaintop home but hadn’t done so in a long time.  Why had he come now?  Was it to gloat?  But no, Good was in for another surprise, maybe even a shock.  “I couldn’t sleep,” said Evil.  “I’ve been having regrets.  Everyone shuns me.  I have a bad rep.  I’m tired of being such a bad guy.  I want to try doing some good.  Can you help me?” 

Good was wary.   Evil wanting to do some good?  This seemed as impossible as Iran and Israel letting eachother live in peace.  But, being Good, he had to give Evil the benefit of the doubt.  So he asked Evil in and they sat in the living room with cups of coffee that Good had made.  “So what do I do?” asked Evil.

“You understand that doing good isn’t just a trick.  It’s a series of choices.  It’s patience and humility.”

“Wait,” said Evil.  He took out a pen and notebook.  “All right, go on.”

“I’d suggest starting out small.  Do a kindness, help someone out, without expecting any thanks.”

“Don’t expect thanks.   Hmmm.  Okay, go on.”

“If you’re really sincere, tell people they should respect others who may be different from them or hold different views and so they can live in peace.”

“What!  That would mean no more wars.  The history of mankind is a history of wars.  That doesn’t seem natural.”

“Perhaps not, but consider.  Mankind now has nuclear weapons.  If they continue having wars sooner or later someone will use nuclear weapons and that may mean the end of mankind altogether.”

“Hmmm,” said Evil.  “Can’t have that, I’d be out of a job.  I’ll work on that.”

They kept talking for a while, Evil busily jotting down notes until finally he said, “That’s enough for a while.  I’ll have to go back to my cave and look this over.”

“I’ll be waiting to see some evidence that you’ve really changed your ways, like possibly the United States Congress getting together to pass a nonpartisan bill.  Or Russia agreeing to a treaty with Ukraine.”

“You said to start small.  Don’t expect miracles.  Thanks for the coffee”

Good escorted Evil to the door and watched as Evil made his way down the mountain.  He thought he saw Evil give a strange smile, or was it a smirk.  Then a dark cloud suddenly appeared and obscured the sun.  This was certainly not a good omen.  Evil was known to be devious.  Was Evil really sincere?  Being Good, he hoped so.  He supposed that, in a favorite phrase of the United States president,  he’d have to wait and see what happened.

Moral: maybe the phrase of another United States president would be appropriate, "trust but verify".

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