Of Marginal Importance

Or is evil a human construct to steer the masses into submission— nothing like bathing perpetually in a lake of fire to keep us in line. Or could it be a universal necessary. What if evil or the idea of evil was simply the opposition, like the poles, nature’s symmetry, the balance in the struggle of life, a reciprocal tug of war.

If evil, and the doers of evil things were determined to be a requirement for mere existence, determined by empirical research and the scientific method to be an essential element to the furtherance of life, would you accept it in all its horrible manifestations? A perpetual win-lose challenge, tit for tat, an eye for an eye, a must needs for continuation. Would you acquiesce to being the next victim if the scientists conclude that it must be so, and everyone gets a lottery ticket? Would you still have the zest for fun, the zeal for adventure? Would you shrug your shoulders and posit c’est la vie?

We have just entered our third year of plague. A truly remarkable milestone with all our medical and technical advancements exponentially accelerated in the past three decades. A plague that is creeping up on the worldwide impact of the Spanish Flu and even the Black Death in medieval times. Perhaps when it is all said and done, not as high a cost in human life, but still very high, shockingly high. But what of the social impact, the toll on the human condition, the cost on cultural norms and values, what about that? For decades, even with the advances in technology and communications, we had an established path— school, work, retirement— with various avenues on how to proceed, but there was a procession. And in that procession, certain mile markers, like childhood development and healthy competition and then the 9-5 grind. We lived with patterns, routines and expectations, and other than the outliers, those that bucked regularity and the norm, most of us accepted the general flow. C’est la vie.

Where is your world now? And I mean yours, your world, your life? Aren’t we all victims? Is there anyone on this planet who is not? Take a moment to absorb this grim reality, reflect, look away from this page and really think about it then come back and ask yourself “what is important now?” How numb have we become as a society, how yesterday is today’s news, even in real time! The innumerable tragedies, the woe after woe, the incessant bleakness portrayed constantly on the news, on your feeds, everywhere— hour upon hour in your face doom and gloom. Will we ever be able to take a collective breath again, are we even capable?

And yet, it could get worse, much worse, so much so that our numb existence would reel, like a slumbering dragon sensing the loss of a single jewel, snapping too with the quickness. And when that happens, as we blink away the fog, we should be concerned that evil and its catalysts are hedging over the line and if we don’t tug back, if we don’t heave ho with some gusto, it will no longer be c’est la vie, but telle e’tait la vie.

Maiten Bexler is unquestionably one of evil’s acolytes. Born in the heartland, but heartless since he could crawl. A true champion of the dark, a free radical against universal symmetry, destined to demonstrate what can be worse. Driven to alter the balance, to upset the status quo, to break the opposition in a decisive manner. Attrition, no, utter destruction yes! For mankind and life are just not worth it. We are the real plague and these petty back and forth struggles between good and evil, or nature’s need to filter for growth, all these numbing hiccups, like COVID-19, are just not doing it. A bigger bang is needed, a better shudder required, and he has a plan, a terrible plan. He may not be the best of the worst, he knows this, envy being one of his failings, but he will make his mark, he will certainly make his mark.