Good Guys and Bad Guys
My wife and I have been talking about the volume of media articles and programs reporting on horrific events happening in the world - both abroad and, sadly, here also. It seems like there are just endless reports of genocide, terrorist bombings, home invasions, infanticide, beatings, political corruption, and on and on. I know that much of the emphasis on what is presented is driven by a rapacious media machine and other institutions which use fear and insecurity to further their own self-interests. And I know that the lesson of history is that there is nothing new with these actions, even though they are presented as "new" developments but, well, there is just so much of it.
Mary says very thoughtfully: "There is so much evil in the world."
Me: "Yes."
Mary: "But there are good people and those who are doing the right thing."
Me: "Yes. ...You're one of the good ones."
Mary: "You're one of the good guys also."
I then went on to talk about a book I had just finished reading: The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. It's about a journey and a conversation between a father and his son. It's not exactly clear but I would put the boy's age at about 5. The setting is a post-Apocalyptic scenario of bare bones survival, shocking descriptions of extreme inhumanity, and constant vigilance in the face of an ongoing condition of imminent and total danger. One moment of inattention could change everything on a dime. Almost everything is pared down to food and water and survival from others. Even the thought of attempting to bond or form alliances with others is almost impossible to risk.
Every plan that you could come up with for sustaining yourself and your loved ones in dire situations is removed in the reality of the author's earth-encircled dust cloud and it's profound consequences for our planet. Food, and the possibility of even growing your own, has never been more literally "off the table." There is nothing but survival and the immediate choices of how to do that and what to hold onto in your humanity. It's as if you are stripped of all hope and confronted only with the present moment and choices contained therein.
It was one of the grimmest books I have ever read, and yet, I couldn't put it down and I would also rate it as one of the best books I have read in some time. As it so happens, it is also a national bestseller and on Oprah's Book Club list - I mention this to indicate that I am hardly the only person who is willing to read disturbing material.
The survival of the father is held onto, it seems, only for the purpose of bringing his son along on the road towards the West. He doesn't know what lies out there but he knows that if he stands still he will be eventually overwhelmed, enslaved and consumed. He also knows that there is no going back. He has seen the desolation of that. There is only forward, and intent and integrity are the only driving forces.
His overriding purpose is the protection of the son, the keeper of the light, the fire, the innocence, the potential. The father's personal survival is only important in the service of protecting his son. Nothing sappy, and he is not even exactly clear why the mission is so important. But he knows that if anything happens to his son, his reason for being here disappears.
The dialogue between the father and son is sparse, pared down like everything else to just the essentials. It's like that's all you have energy left over for and also it's a decision based on energy conservation. Long gone are any discussions of Disney World, the latest movies, and what will it be like after the reality of Peak Oil really sinks in.
And in that dialogue, there is frequent reference to the question of: "Are we the good guys? Are they the bad guys? Are you a good guy? Am I a bad guy because of the decision I/we just made for our survival - at someone else's expense - (and remember on their journey they were always talking about every action leading to either death or survival)?
That was the context of my saying to my wife that she was one of the good guys. Yes, even is Shangri La, in our context of living in the Garden of Eden, we need to think of who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.
Oh, there is so much to this.
Enjoy the present abundance. Build character. Make wise decisions. Strengthen relationships.
7 comments:
Hi Tim,
Reading this made me want to go out and buy 'The Road' - sounds completely compelling!
The language of the "good guys" and the "bad guys" is one that doesn't sit comfortably with me, though. I'm reminded of Solzhenitsyn (echoing Dostoevsky and ultimately Augustine):
"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart."
And yet... as my mum says, "We're most of us more sinned-against than sinning." And so many people go around silently telling themselves how awful they are. (When I was training salespeople, I used to tell them, "There are things you say to yourself that, if anyone else said to you, you'd punch them!")
So there is a sense of being "good guys" which we could do with telling ourselves we are more often. (I suppose this is along the lines of Eric Berne and Thomas Harris's "I'm OK, you're OK".) And that does sound a lot like the conversation you described.
Dougald,
Thanks for your thoughts.
Yes, it is compelling, but be forewarned it "ain't" comfortable.
Solzhenitsyn's quote is so important, but only always and in every generation. And I think that is the type of question that was floating in and through the conversation between the boy and his dad.
Their conversation makes the scripts of Berne in his Games People Play and Harris' I'm ok and you're ok, look like child's play.
You draw attention to Solzhenitsyn, and he certainly has the personal life experience credentials to add enormous weight to his quote. I fall back onto the Yin/Yang circle that is used to represent Taoist thinking around totality, change, etc.
The further part of that symbol is that within each of the two "halves" or positions, there is a small circle which is representative of the "seed of it's opposite." It is sometimes an indication of the statement that at the point of the extremity, the opposite is already there and can become the seed of that change.
It's so easy to see the shortcomings of the "holier than thou" position, even if you can't see the actual facts.
The more I reflect on The Road the bigger and more important it becomes. Perhaps the clarity of their conversation, and of Solzhenitsyn's quote is just what we need now on our planet as we grapple with how to be with the clash of civilizations OR how to deal with those criminals who cloak their actions in the guise of a clash of civilizations.
Tim
SInce I walk the gray line, I guess I am a "Gray guy". When it comes to survival, you do what you need to in order to survive. I think asking whether your ultimately good or bad is irrealavent. I some people have to ask anyways to make themselves feel better, but the world doesn't balance like that.
-P
Hi Proxima,
Re: "when it comes to survival, you do what you need to in order to survive."
As I said in the post: "oh, there is so much to this."
Survival and the procreation "thing" are the two basics. But of the two survival is the more basic for the species because if you don't survive, then procreation is off the table.
But then there is the story of Iwo Jima. The man who pops up and charges into the face of almost certain death so that others may live. There are choices in those situations also.
I heard a quote the other day, something to the effect that the difference between the hero and everyone else is the ability to hold on for 5 minutes longer than others.
I agree with Solzhenitsyn: "...But
the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart."
But (at least in that quote) he doesn't imply that we have no choice as to which "part" we will respond to and act on, but only that we cannot simply exterminate the bad guys...it just isn't that simple.
Oh, yes, there is so much to this.
Tim
I ran into an acquaintance from long ago - someone I barely knew even back then - and got talking about our current lives. He is active in the Lutheran Church, and works in a casino, keeping the slot machines running. I asked if the Lutheran Church frowns on gambling, not intending to make him uncomfortable, but I guess I did. So then we got talking about how nobody can say their own life is totally pure, untainted by any sort of ill-gotten gain. I assured him that I know: no matter how carefully you live your life, if you trace your resources back far enough you eventually face the reality that you have to kill to eat.
Sometimes you have to take a life to save a life. If that isn't a driving nail between the sembalance of good and evil I don't know what is.
Been thinking about this book you mentioned. I'm definitely interested in checking it out.
Good Post!
-P
Tim, Thanks for the reply to my email and for pointing me to this discussion. Some mundane work calls for my attention now but that gives me an opportunity to ponder this subject and organize my thoughts.
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