I remember........
Grandfather....remember him?, if not try a search, because I haven't figured out, in ten months of writing, how to categorize / organize, this site......
But, he used to ask, "Malsom Nqoss, is it better to be a Bad Man with a Good Heart, or a good man with a bad heart?"
*Caps difference, my own*......
We talked of many things....for some reason, I was his target for teaching.....he and Miss Winifred moved out to Arizona from the wilds of Maine about the time I was ten years old.
I had him and his seemingly boundless wisdom for about six years....my elder Brother, Michael, seven years my senior, graduated high school, and off to the adventure of Viet Nam....my younger, *name redacted*, was four years too young.......
Little Bro' is quite a bit like me, though I'm better looking.....*KIDDING, put away the gun*....but he wasn't able to enjoy the amazing depth of a Man that shared....only with a few.....
The answer to his question is quite evident to me.....although with a qualification, because I answered him, "How about a Good Man, with a Good Heart?" I remember he answered me something on the order of.....
"There are plenty of good men with good hearts, Malsom, but.....sometimes things just need to be done that a good man can't stomach doing.....Having a Good Heart, and especially while you're forced to do Bad Things, is most important"
Does that make sense? I thought long and hard about those words....I have personally done a lot of "Bad Things" in my time on this earth, but never in malice...just that things had to be done....
I think I understand that he meant that "good" Men weren't capable of doing the really ugly things that were necessary to keep other good people safe......
Now that I'm older, and of course writing this blog thing, I more than welcome your thoughts......one perspective is Never enough......
End Philosophy
Wollf
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3 comments:
Define "good."
I tend to go more by the Terry Pratchett version, that he expressed in this:
He had a villain whose teacher had told him, if there was ever someone prepared to kill him, to pray that it was a bad man. A bad man would try to draw out the death, giving more time to escape; the good man will kill him and be done with it.
The entirely 'good' man would probably be Ashley Wilkes (sp?) (Gone with the Wind) Good, but maybe not effective. Or not willing to do what is necessary. And if what is necessary is to kill a Bad Guy, and the Good Guy can't do it then it is the Good Guy who is most dangerous? Make any sense?
I have a friend (a prosecutor) who has a saying - There are Good People who do Good Things, and Good People who do Bad Things. There are Bad People who do Bad Things, and Bad People who do Good Things. The trick is sorting out who is who.
In the same sense, Peace is Good, but there is more than one way to Peace, and that means some bad things may have to be done to achieve it.
"Never in malice" to me is the important part of what you are saying. As John Wayne would say, "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." The reason Behind our individual actions is what has to be examined closely by each and every one of us. Nobody knows what is on our hearts but we, ourselves, and Sometimes even we have to take a closer look.
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