Essays

Imbalance of Power

GOOD vs EVIL: were they to be placed on a balance scale, sampled from various times in human history, there's no doubt in my mind which would not only tip, but topple the scale every time. First, though, there'd have to be an honest, eyes-full-open sifting of the material-- a little bit good is as impossible a thing to be as a little bit pregnant. There ain't no such thing, folks!

Many events and behaviors most may consider "good" leading to bad results-- intended or not-- really only qualify for the other side of the scale. Such as, the good of nuclear medicine resulting from spliting atoms by perhaps well-meaning scientists, pales before the scientific advance's many, many more victims than there will ever be recovered cancer patients. And good-doing missionaries' introduction of measles, smallpox, VD & "sin" to happy, peaceful, loving, native peoples surely outweighs physically, any supposed "spiritual" good done by force-feeding their one-god belief to those they deprived of their own multiple gods.

Speaking of gods, going all the way back to square one, who can honestly deny that every religion in the world today, plus all those we find traces of from the past, fostered &/or committed more death, torture, subjugation, warfare, other suffering & destruction than they provided peaceful, happy life for their adherents? I submit that any act, event, or behavior having caused harm or suffering to a fellow animal &/or serious damage to our planet home can NOT be considered "good" irrespective of any amount of "good" that may be claimed to have otherwise resulted. And as far as any clouds' silver lining goes, "bad" acts', events' or behaviors' good side effects can't excuse them over to the scales' good side either, since, like good and pregnant, bad has no half-life. It just is-- or it ain't!

Apologists greedily wanting things both ways, splutter that one has to consider their phantom concept, "the greater good" as a excuse for dealing with the devil while keepings consciences squeaky-clean. UNspoken, is the pact's seamy side, accepting a "lesser evil". Before they make excuses for anything or anybody, they should ask...

...Chernobyl victims how they feel about the greater good of nuclear power plants & if they're content to be part of that lesser evil for the sake of the more fortunate majority;

...or a Nagasaki victim if nuclear scans in today's hospitals is an acceptable "good" worth their own 50-years-ago experience & the quality of life they had to endure since;

...or ask a Moslem mother who lost a husband & two sons to Christian Serbs' hatred, whether the love of any "good" god is worth the price she & her loved ones paid.


Nope. No degrees, no excuses and no quibbling! The slightest taint of any "bad" renders the greatest "good" invalid, just as one bad apple can ruin a bushelful, one wrong idea can bring down an entire civilization. In the final analysis, being brutally, painfully honest about it, humanity's good vs evil index ends up being as lop-sided as a 3-legged mountain goat goin' wrong way 'round the mountain.

Good's a real featherweight compared to evil & always was, but the human animal, with his superior brainpower, has developed the ability magicians, sorcerers & alchemists have sought since time began— we can turn lead into gold! That worth-little, leaden heavyweight, EVIL, gets zapped into a downy-light version of good-as-gold GOOD any time mankind needs to feel good about doing something bad.

Go on and prove me wrong, or— admit I'm right. Just make a list of things you consider good. Next, check your entries to make sure they truly match the parameters & definitions you'll find a few paragraphs back, take out the ones you had in the wrong place, and then see what's left. Here's how:

good stuff:
the wheel (oops! war chariots, torture "rack," car crashes, etc.)

painkillers (double oops! drug users, OD's, crime, etc.)

"Love thy neighbor" (hmm-m! Adolph H? Idi A? Manson? McVeigh?)

education (should be OK: but-- what's it led to? greed, war, Chernobyl)

sports (oh, yeah!? steroids, druggy stars, deaths, 120$mil deals, gambling)

music (military marches leading kids to their death, drug 'n crime-touting rap)

See what I mean? Ancient Egyptians are thought to have believed their gods weighed one's soul after death, against a feather-- & if heavier (presumably with sin), you were denied entrance to heaven. If true, heaven's most likely a very lonely place indeed. The scales don't lie. Good is in short supply and evil abounds. Face it kids, we're lots naughtier than nice! Which leads me to wonder who/what really made us. If there's a good creator and an evil one, I wouldn't make book on whose we are-- it's a sucker bet. Any suckers in the house?

Don't blame me for popping your balloon. Who filled it with hot air in the first place? You each blew up your own pretty bubble with that stuff you were fed and then gobbled up all by your greedy, hungry, insecure little selves since being weaned. So, when it can't hold air-- or water-- anymore, don't come running to me, crying over "losing your faith." Maybe you shouldn't have put it into such a fragile container. Good and evil are obvious. Nothing subtle there at all. Not till we dude 'em up with all kinds of camouflage to allow us to kid ourselves about which is which. And when I come too close with a sharp piece of truth, don't be surprised at what happens. Be glad. Maybe there's some hope for you, after all. Meanwhile, "I'm for-ev-er pop-ping bub-bles..."