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(Page 2 of 2) Good ... Evil by Dan BiegerArranging the napkins, watching the first sips and the anticipated appreciation on the two men's faces actually appear, Senor Viejo offered: "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party." This brought a cessation of sipping and very large question marks on the brows of both Stephen and Marvin.
"Huh?" Marvin asked but Senor Viejo was already off to clean the mess from his preparation of their drinks. Shaking his head in wry amusement, Marvin returned to the conversation dismissing the old man's comment with: "Thought we'd dropped that argument." And then asking: "So, you buying that idea that good refers to qualities and evil to actions?"
"Can't," Stephen answered. "That would mean they are not opposites."
"And I would be correct," Marvin agreed. "So, let's simplify. Good is desirable; bad is undesirable. Does that work?"
"Momentarily stipulated," Stephen said.
"A continuum, then, from desirable to undesirable. What forms the parameters for the continuum?
First he sipped, then Stephen answered: "Personal preference."
"Bingo!" Marvin triumphant: "And we've had this debate before. It's the ‘what is true and what is not true' debate. And that turned out that true always indicates a concurrence of opinion, an occurrence of preference."
"Yep, all those orcs honestly believed in what Sauron was up to."
"All those Huns honestly believed in what Attila was up to."
Here they paused to sip, clinking glasses in toast to something that needn't be said.
"Just as life is not the opposite of death;" Stephen offered, "it's just one end of a continuum."
"Yep. Can't have one without the other. Which means anyone who considers themselves pro-life must also consider themselves pro-death."
"Oh, let's not go there tonight."
"Good thinking."
"And you were correct, old friend." Stephen said. "This Singapore sling was a perfect accompaniment."
"Another?"
"Works for me but this time I choose the topic."
At the other end of the bar, Senor Viejo shook his head, the few gray hairs still left to him waving in the breeze. Glancing at his customers summoning him; nodding his comprehension of their intent, to himself he muttered,: "It's as I've always said: When beauty is abstracted, ugliness has been implied; when good is abstracted; evil has been implied. But, what do I know?"
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