The Snake. Jane Goodall. River Evil Reversed.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about good and evil and feeling the power of evil way too much.

And then I watched President Zelensky’s speech to the U.S. Congress (12.25.22). It struck me that this man has come to symbolize both. He is willing to hold close the evil done to his country and his people—hold it so close that he can spill it out raw to people who need to know and even feel it. But the part of him that shines triumphant, even in this dark, brutal winter, is his goodness and his willingness to share the goodness and sacrifice of his people so we can also share it and lean toward it.

Over two decades ago I wrote a letter about good and evil to my daughter as she was deep in despair after September 11th. Today I share it with you on the darkest night of the year. More light coming soon…

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September 12, 2001

Today I woke, thinking of the plane hitting the World Trade Center… and thought of you and how you told me last night that you did not want to live in such a bad world.

When I was a sophomore in high school, I turned away from my “church” religion because no one at my church could explain why children suffered and died in huge famines, floods, and wars. Years later, in college, reading widely about how people have always tried to reconcile the nature of both good and evil existing in the world, reading about how we have evolved into better creatures while at the same time committing atrocities against each other, I must have come to my own resolution about good and evil.

I hope that you will also come to your own understanding and not feel defeated by yesterday’s horrors.

“It is these undeniable qualities of human love and compassion and self-sacrifice that give me hope for the future. We are, indeed, often cruel and evil. Nobody can deny this. We gang up on each one another, we torture each other, with words as well as deeds, we fight, we kill. But we are also capable of the most noble, generous, and heroic behavior.” ― Jane Goodall, Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey

In fact, recently, you gave me a reminder of how we accept evil and good as part of our world, how we find triumph and goodness in the middle of despair. You asked me to read Jane Goodall’s book “A Reason For Hope” and I did. Jane thought the world of the chimps was a more perfect, natural world. Their society was caring and nurturing; how could humans be destroying such creatures, she thought. She and her research staff were shocked to witness the chimp wars where (probably maintaining territorial control) they snatched and killed the babies of family members, pulled apart chimps they had known for years, and committed various atrocities against each other.

It was a dark time for her. This darkness was reflected in the evil Jane felt around her as the jungle was destroyed and as she came to feel strongly about our cruelty to animals in labs and research. At the end of her book, she comes through the darkness, sees beyond the evil to the essential goodness in the chimps, to our ability as humans to make progress: regrow the jungle, plant trees, enact new laws and procedures for lab animals, develop products without animal testing. Faced with evil in a very personal way, she decides that hope and goodness are the stronger element and she finds clear examples of their stronger powers.

I hope that you do too.

Humans have always had to deal with the problem of evil. Every culture tries to explain how they are related, linked, even useful to each other. Without the blackest darkness of night, could we celebrate the rippling sunshine on rivers. Can we know the light—feel the joy of light—without knowing the darkness? That is the question.

Christians believe the Bible’s good and evil origin story. Eve is expelled from the Garden of Eden (a perfect place where there is no good or evil), because she listens to the devil (serpent) and eats the apple that gives her the knowledge of good and evil. God expels her from the garden, saying she will live this knowledge. She will “bring forth children in pain.”

So he sent us out with pain, but in this story, he sent us out with children. And for me, (as you know) that has been the greatest gift. In our creation story, we were sent out with both pain and joy … and children.

All cultures around the world have stories about the origins of good and evil, but always the good—the hope—triumphs.

Magazine cover: Bill Cosby’s accusers.

I can-actually see that around me. When I was your age, assaulting women was considered a private affair or not worthy of much attention. Unless the woman died. Now we have evolved to understand the evil of the misuse of power and rage. Women (in many countries) have the right to a safe life. Does this stop the evil of abuse? Not always, but we made progress recognizing the value of women and their right to be protected.

I see this evolution as the triumph of good, not in a perfect world, but the growth of goodness because we are working to protect and take care of people and we did not do that before.

Haines, Alaska’s version of the Women’s March. January 21, 2017

In Maine, The Great Works dam comes down. In the text, check the amazing video link to the story.

Years ago, people tried to dam every river in sight. Even today in China, the mighty and gorgeous Yangzee is dying underneath the crime of the biggest dam on the planet. I believe that one day, the Chinese will know the evil of this crime against nature. Here today, in our country the dams are starting to come down. I never thought that in my life, I would see this turn of events, that people would see this particular evil, this crime against the value and health of rivers and actually begin to reverse the process. I do see examples of the triumph of goodness and knowledge over the forces of darkness, evil and ignorance.

But I do believe we will always have both in the world.

Last night after you went to bed, on the news they showed the long lines of New Yorkers waiting to give blood: out the hospital doors, down the streets—people all waiting hours to give blood, to do what they could. That is an image of powerful good that is at least as powerful to me as the one of the plane slamming into the building.

I know that you have experienced your own darkness, but you have been lifted up and carried on by the goodness and light of the many people who love you and have helped you through the darkness. I know you must sort out your own personal truth about good and evil.

I wrote you this letter to let you know that we are all on a search, we all have moments of doubt, and that we all have questions about evil. For me, the goodness of your being here outweighs any evil the world may toss my way. I have confidence that you will find your way as you walk between the darkness and the light; and I DO love you more than all the chocolate chip cookies on earth.

Moo

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Thank you, Bob!

Sandy’s debut novel, “Deadly Trespass, A Mystery in Maine” won a national Mystery Writers of America award, was a finalist in the Women’s Fiction Writers Association “Rising Star” contest, and was a finalist for a Maine Literary Award. The second Mystery in Maine, “Deadly Turn,” was published in 2021. Her third “Deadly” is due out in 2023. Find her novels at all Shermans Books (Maine) and on Amazon. Find more info on Sandy’s website.