So there was a young man, who never had much luck. He lost out in the career he tried to build, the women he tried to woo, the friends he tried to make. It wasn't that he didn't get work, or meet girls, or make friends. Just that none of those things were as meaningful or powerful as he had always hoped they might be.
But, still, he felt it would be a sort of betrayal to stop trying to be good.
So he tried to be a good person. And though a lot of what he considered "good" fell in line with various religions and social standards, he mostly did just what he thought was good because it helped people around him feel good about being alive. For a long time, this was still a selfish goodness, because making other people feel good, and seeing other people happy still, somewhere, made him feel good, and proud, even if his own luck tended to be raw and hard and generally unfavorable.
Still, even though he tried to be good, his bad luck made him bitter, over time. He kept doing good things, but would bemoan the happiness in others that he saw around him in the same breath that he would use to pass on encouragement or advice to someone he cared for. Everything about his life was suddenly backwards, and poisoned.
Eventually, despite his poor luck with women, he found himself in a slow, loveless relationship. And despite how bitter they were towards one another, and how spitefully they lived out their day to day lives, they eventually found themselves with a child.
She was named Glory, and she was beautiful, and wonderful, and had so much hope for the world all around her, almost from the moment she could speak. And she loved her father even though he resented the debt she brought on them that he couldn't afford, and the stress she caused that drove him so close to suicide, so many times.
And one night, as he tucked her in, she said:
"Daddy, it's right to do good things, isn't it?"
And he said
Yes, child.
And she said
"Because if you do good things, good things will happen to you, right daddy?"
And he said
Oh, no child. Things may be bad for you, or even terrible. It might be bad, bad, bad.
And she started to cry, and said
"Why, daddy, should we do good things then?"
And he said
Because, if you do good things, though bad, bad, bad things might happen to you, good things will happen to the world.
But, still, he felt it would be a sort of betrayal to stop trying to be good.
So he tried to be a good person. And though a lot of what he considered "good" fell in line with various religions and social standards, he mostly did just what he thought was good because it helped people around him feel good about being alive. For a long time, this was still a selfish goodness, because making other people feel good, and seeing other people happy still, somewhere, made him feel good, and proud, even if his own luck tended to be raw and hard and generally unfavorable.
Still, even though he tried to be good, his bad luck made him bitter, over time. He kept doing good things, but would bemoan the happiness in others that he saw around him in the same breath that he would use to pass on encouragement or advice to someone he cared for. Everything about his life was suddenly backwards, and poisoned.
Eventually, despite his poor luck with women, he found himself in a slow, loveless relationship. And despite how bitter they were towards one another, and how spitefully they lived out their day to day lives, they eventually found themselves with a child.
She was named Glory, and she was beautiful, and wonderful, and had so much hope for the world all around her, almost from the moment she could speak. And she loved her father even though he resented the debt she brought on them that he couldn't afford, and the stress she caused that drove him so close to suicide, so many times.
And one night, as he tucked her in, she said:
"Daddy, it's right to do good things, isn't it?"
And he said
Yes, child.
And she said
"Because if you do good things, good things will happen to you, right daddy?"
And he said
Oh, no child. Things may be bad for you, or even terrible. It might be bad, bad, bad.
And she started to cry, and said
"Why, daddy, should we do good things then?"
And he said
Because, if you do good things, though bad, bad, bad things might happen to you, good things will happen to the world.