choicesSometimes conversations are meant for eavesdropping…

I was standing in the aisle on a bus. A young mother (in her mid thirties) and her son (perhaps seven years old) were sitting on the seat beside me. The woman was reading a paperback and the boy was playing a game on a hand-held device; his legs were swinging, his eyes were glued to the screen.

Suddenly, the boy’s legs stilled; he looked sideways, and said, “Mom?”

“Yes?” she answered, but her eyes remained on the book.

“Why are some people evil?”

The woman closed the book, set it on her lap. She thought for a moment, and then said, “I think it’s a bad choice they’ve made. We all have good and bad thoughts, and it’s up to each of us to decide which thoughts to follow. I think that without evil it’s impossible to decide what is good. It’s like hard things and soft thinks: you need the comparison to tell which is which. There are people at the two ends of the scale of behaviour: saints and evil people. The rest of the people — most of us — are in-between saints and evil people. The average person, most of society, decides that it’s better to be more like a saint than an evil person. Maybe it’s the difference that helps people to decide to become better human beings.”

The boy’s attention returned to the game, his legs a-swinging. The woman smiled, and then opened her book and continued reading.

But a few moments later the boy’s legs stilled; he looked at the woman again and said, “Mom?”

“Mmm, hmm?”

“What if saints were even better, and evil people not so evil? Or if there was more saints and less bad people? Then the difference between good and evil would go toward better, and average people would be nicer. Wouldn’t that be good?”

His mom paused for several seconds before answering; finally, she said, “Yes. Yes, that would be good.” And she put her book into her purse and hugged him until I got off the bus two stops later.

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