How Insidious Apathy, Indifference and Evil Are Deftly Defeated

Morning!

My gosh, what a day, and it hasn't yet even really started.

See, it all began while I was at the lab, waiting to get my bloodwork done.  The place opened at 7am so I arrived by 6:40am to discover I was number 16 in line.  Whee!

Ah well, these things happen.  But! I had brought with me one of my fav books, The Swords of Night and Day by David Gemmell, and *finally*…..found the passage I'm dying to share with my kids.

And it's this.

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…Stavut suddenly laughed.  "You really still think we are going to win?"

Druss looked at him.  "Winning isn't everything, Stavut.  Men like to think it is.  Sometimes it is more important to stand against evil than to worry about beating it.

When I was a young man, serving with Gorben's Immortals, we took a city.  The ruler there was a vile man.  I heard a story there.  His soldiers had rounded up a group of Source priests, and they decided to burn them all.

One citizen stepped out from the crowd and spoke against the deed.  He told them that what they were doing was evil, and that they should be ashamed of themselves."

"And did he save the priests?"

"No.  And they killed him, too.  But that's what I am saying, laddie.  I remembered that man's deed, and it inspired me.  Others who saw it would have been inspired. 

Evil will always have the worst weapons.  Evil will gather the greatest armies.  They will burn and plunder and kill. But that's not the worst of it.

They will try to make us believe that the only way to destroy them is by becoming *like* them.  That is the true vileness of evil.  It is contagious. 

That one man reminded me of that, and helped me keep the code."

Stavut inserted the needle into the split flesh above Druss's eye and carefully sealed the cut.  "You believe that you can defeat evil with an ax?  Is that not a contradiction in terms?"

"Of course it is, laddie.  That's always the danger.  However, in this instance I am merely standing my ground.  Do I think we can win today?  I think we have already won.  I have seen it in the eyes of the Guard.  Will we die?  Probably."

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My gosh, I *adore* the above; it speaks to my heart and soul.

I think that we can extrapolate from it as well.  It's not only evil that can be defeated….

It's also apathy and indifference.

I was recently told that worrying about others is stupid…and one should only take care of themselves.  And I'm ashamed to admit…I found myself more and more jaded as well, and becoming far less willing to consider other people's pain.

But honestly…that's just plain short-sighted.

You never ever *ever* know when a single act of kindness, compassion or courage will reverberate across another person's soul.

I witnessed that myself yesterday, when a good friend saw I was hurting and chose to reach out to me because of something I had once taught said individual:

"If *I* don't do it, who will?"

I am so grateful to my guardian angel for that experience…it really gave me hope that one's Inner Hero actually *can* come out. 

Really, we are all in this life together.  To ignore that fact….is to allow apathy and indifference to flourish.

And that's a pretty poor thing indeed.

Grow strong,

Barbara Ling