Trusting me to do the good thing by Roald Michel

Remember me saving that baby iguana? Here’s another story from my encounters with animals. This one was originally published on a so called Christian site discussing evil. You’ll see it’s quite appropriate to see the light of day in this Syrian thread as well. And not to forget the “fear negotiating” one.

I entered my garden one day to get rid for a while of the usual cacophony that surrounds me on a daily basis. Waving palm trees, luscious flowers, singing birds, hard working ants, and cool fish, were greeting me as I made my way to the pool. And then I saw it: A totekkie drowning, desperately trying to climb out of the water, but to no avail. So I took the little one out. My good deed for the day. While still holding it in my hand, she asked: “Are you God?” Totally caught off guard by her question, I hesitated a bit, but then I said: “No, I’m not. Are you?” “Of course I am, and so are you!” she replied a bit impatiently.

Together we sat down in a cave close to the pool, and she explained: “You see Roald, we all are God, or if you will, God is in all of us. See that rock over there next to the shower? That one is God too. And that precious trupial cleaning its feathers on a high-voltage cable outside on the street? Yes, that one too.”

The sun was setting, and soon we could see the moon and the stars. Still wondering I said: “Is Venus God too? And the moon? And Antaris? And……..” She looked up to me, and I could feel her annoyance with me now. Then she said: “Hmmmm, you didn’t get it yet, eh? Must be because you’re a human. Animals, plants, and even lifeless objects have no problems at all being God. They never argue about it either. They simply are what they are. I mean being God, eh? Yeah, come to think of it, only humans are constantly babbling, bickering, fighting, and killing each other over God. Guess it’s because they fear to be divine, or something.” She caught a stray fly and devoured it. Bewildered I said: “How could you do that? You say you’re God, no? And God is good, no?” She licked her lips, smiled, and replied: “Yes, of course I did that. And it was good too, hehe!”

We were silent for a while. She enjoying the cool trade winds and ready to kill yet another daredevil God passing by, and I engulfed in spiritual chaos.

Finally, when she was half asleep already, I dared to ask: “If we all are God, how come there’s so much evil, misery, and sorrow in this world?” She yawned, and said: “Roald, that kind of stuff only exists in the human world, your world, not in the rest of it.” I could only stare at her, confused, angered, and helpless. “What nonsense is that?” I replied with elevated voice. “Are you telling me that when you torture, kill, and even eat your victims alive, this is not evil, not creating misery and sorrow?” “Nah, not at all” she said. “It’s just the way it is, and in human terms, all good.” I couldn’t believe my ears! There she was, claiming to be God, while murdering all kinds of small living things (Gods too in her conception) without the blink of an eye or the tiniest sign of remorse. Pure evil that one!

A dark cloud moved in front of the moon, darkening my world even more.

“Humans are a mistake” she suddenly said. “Well, not really a mistake at creation, but they grew into it so to speak. They never should have eaten from that tree, you know? Yes, you know what I’m talking about, don’t you? It’s that tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Well, that’s how you people tell the story. Thank God, we never ate from it. Only humans did. And as far as I know, still do. Along the way, humans also picked up yet another brilliant fruit, called it ‘free will’, ate from it too, liked its taste, and got addicted to it. Since that time you people are slaughtering each other in the name of it. Freedom fighters and free thinkers contaminating and polluting the place everywhere now. Talk about evil.”

At that moment, she grinned, jumped off my lap, caught another unsuspecting God, swallowed it, and laughed like only a totekkie can laugh.

“Free will by itself is not so bad”, she continued. It’s the way humans handle the thing which made, and still is making, a mess out of it. Not that I would want to have it though. Doesn’t taste well, I’ve heard, and would make me vomit. I rather stick with plain choices. I make choices all the time. And all of them are perfect, because I don’t have to bother about good and evil like you humans must. What makes it even worse is that even if you know you made the wrong choice, you’re coming up with all kind of excuses and rationalizations to still make it look good, while actually it’s dripping from pure evil. Yeah, free will at its best!”

She nestled herself in my lap again, looked me straight into the eye, and whispered: “Still you and the rest of humanity are God, you hear! Maybe a bit twisted deity, but God nonetheless. There’s simply no other way Roald, even if you deny it.” Then she mumbled something about atheism I believe, but I couldn’t grasp it, because she fell asleep, trusting me to do the good thing. And so I became her guardian angel for the night.

Roald Michel