Good vs Evil - The Latest Fable
by Martin Green

 

 

Readers may recall that in the last Good vs Evil fable Evil had surprised Good by declaring he was tired of being the bad guy and wanted Good to help him reform.  Good was skeptical but gave Evil some suggestions and wondered what would happen next.

Now, a week later, Good was doing something he didn’t like to do, visiting Evil in Evil’s dank dark underground cave.  That morning on his special television set that showed events happening worldwide Good had seen the takeover of a democratic government by a terrorist group and he suspected that Evil had his hand in it.  “Well,” Good demanded.  “Was that your doing?”

“Er. well, you told me to help someone without expecting any thanks so I might have helped them somewhat, getting weapons and a few other things.  But you told me to help someone out, you didn’t say whom I should help.”

“So you aided someone you knew would do a bad thing.”

“How could I know?” said Evil, doing his best to look innocent.  “And by the way, I didn’t get any thanks.”

“You’re impossible,” said Good.  “No more helping out bad people.”

“Right,” said Evil.  “Oh, and I have an idea.  I want to set up a non-profit agency, you know, like all of those American billionaires do, to distribute funds and expertise to deserving people all over the world.  There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”

:Hmmm, it sounds okay but I’ll be keeping an eye on it.  No helping out terrorist groups or dictators.”

“Of course not.  Would you care to have some coffee?”

“No thanks.  I want to get back out to the sunlight.”

 

 ****

 

A few weeks later Good was dozing in front of his television set when a news bulletin came on.  A new non-profit had been formed, called Foundation for Good Givers (FOGG) that was attracting major donors.  The Foundation had promised that donors would be compensated beyond their wildest dreams, its slogan being that Good did not always have to be its own reward .  It had already held a number of major events at which celebrities and politicians, eager for publicity, had appeared.  Nobody knew who was behind this new non-profit.  Good suspected that he knew and he wondered what Evil was hatching up.

Several months went by during which FOGG continued to receive a lot of publicity and also a lot of donations but otherwise all was quiet.  Good was occupied with trying to end wars and avoiding starting wars.  Then one day another bulletin came on his television.  Airplanes of unknown origin but with the insignia “FOGG” had suddenly appeared over all of the major capitals of the world and showered them with money.  So this was the promised reward.  People scrambled to get the money.  Fights broke out, then riots, then clashes with between mobs and law enforcement agencies, then government offices were stormed; in short, the world was engulfed in chaos.

Good, watching all of the hectic scenes on his television, shook his head.  So this had been Evil’s plan all along.  He hoped that eventually governments would be able to get things under control.  Meanwhile, he’d have to pay another visit to that dark dank cave.  He’d tell Evil that he no longer had to do supposedly good things.  He could go back to being just plain himself, that is, Evil.  That was easier to deal with than Evil’s idea of being good.

Moral:  How about – “When Evil starts imitating Good then it’s time to watch out”?

 

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