Writing is like being able to put life into a snow globe. It takes the things that are too big and scary and reduces them into a form that I can put away when I want and look at from a distance. It also takes all that’s good in life and captures it into something I can take out when I want and look at close up and keep forever. It makes the bad things into something I can hold…and the good things into something I can hold onto. Both help so much that I need that little souvenir of life.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Totally Random Tuesday Again: Truth

Thank you to Sioux and Anonymous for some great comments a couple of weeks ago about my hiker friend. They inspired today’s random thought about people who are good at seeking out truth…and those who aren’t.

I’ve learned that people are too good to allow obvious evil to survive in the open. We are, however, notoriously easy to fool. Evil therefore relies on fools because it needs deception in order to survive. It is by nature a coward and a mimic and a sneak, but it isn’t content simply to slink off into dark alleys and crevices. Instead, evil revels in its favorite form of deception: camouflage. And it doesn’t dress itself as an old crone with warts, either—evil polishes its own façade and loves to drape itself in beauty. It loves cameras and spotlights, grinning with perfect white teeth and grabbing hold with a warm, firm handshake. Worst of all, perhaps—it doesn’t shrink from good, but cloaks itself in it like a chameleon. In fact, it gravitates toward decency, seeks it out, searches for a collar that looks just like all the other collars and a robe that looks just like all the other robes. Evil is at its most dangerous not when it dives in and slaughters an innocent lamb, but when it hides under the fleece so that it can quietly devour the whole flock while everyone scratches their heads and wonders what the hell is going on.

I’m learning that there will always be those who search for truth, those who work hard to cover it up, and those who really don’t care. And the most dangerous of those could very well be the last group. Although the second is the purest evil, it’s the foolish who allow evil to flourish by—perhaps unwittingly—becoming its minions.

7 comments:

  1. Hi Tammy,
    Such deep thoughts. You definitely have me thinking today.
    Oh, and I read your post about the hiker. What an amazing woman!
    donna

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am going to write this with a louder volume (so read the next words as if they are written in all caps, bold, AND italicized: Do you have any plans to compile a collection of your writing? Sexless in the City stories...Your stories of being a mom, a writer...

    You are right. The silent ones are the worst. The ones who stay on the fence, who disagree but do not open their mouth, who feel like they should stand up but don't...They are the most pathetic.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ooops. I did not need to yell my comment above. I just took the time to re-check an earlier post of yours, and I found...(And I complain when my students don't "dig" for an answer. I wonder where they learned that habit?)

    By destination, do you mean a publisher? Do you mean a "connecting thread"?

    I think you're copping out...Clamoring readers want to know if that's true.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Brilliantly written. Thank you.

    Pat
    www.critteralley.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks so much, Donna, Linda, Sioux, Pat, and Lynn!

    Sioux, I meant I'm not sure what the goal is. OR a connecting thread, for that matter. Have talked to an editor who is interested in the Senior Sex(less) thing. Remind me to tell you next time we get together for questionable quiche.

    ReplyDelete

Any return "messages" are appreciated!