I see ‘em!

The world is a dark place in Sweeny Todd. Have you watched it? Anyways as I drove back after the midnight movie I again asked myself the question that I ask myself often as I drive back in the dead of night.

"If a dishevelled person appeared in trouble by the side of the road in the dead of night, would I stop?"

Often at different nights, my own answers startle me, and this strange musing tonight made me all chilly.

While the most probable answer would be ‘call the police to help’ let’s take the guvment out of the picture for a moment. This after all is a personal morality test. In quite a few films, I have seen innocent people who get into trouble for trying to be good as a good samaritan and help the person in trouble. At times when I feel inspired/naive and want to champion all the good ethics in the world, I would think that I would stop and help.

However, there are easily many reasons not to stop, some good, some sad, and humans are rarely without a reason for long.

I’ve once read that there are many things that one can use as their underpinning in their life. This is basically a belief in something that you can always rely on. For anything. It will not fail you. Such things, from the frivolous to the sacred, are beliefs like: beauty, money, fortune, family, friends, religion, love and ethics. To the writer, all of the above can let you down eventually, all except ethics. To him, ethics is the one thing that is infallible or least likely for you to regret investing in.

Personally I hold love and ethics in very high regard. However, tonight, as I drove back, I found that a personal ‘motto’ that I have been thinking about in the past year has led me to be disappointed in myself.

My motto when it comes to anything dangerous is not ‘whether it will affect me’ but ‘even if there is a 1% chance that I might be hurt and that my partner might grieve/suffer for me - I would avoid that risk’.

Back to the car. Even the ’solid ground’ of love can lead one to drive past the needy man. There is the risk that he could be a no-gooder and I wouldn’t take that risk - in the name of love.

This answer that sprang from my heart surprised me and made the night darker - love can lead one to be heartless. In Sweeny Todd, a child’s love - such an innocent thing! - can even lead to murder. Within a movie, that is scary. But to really feel it, that my love for someone would make me consider an action as degrading as not helping someone - that is truly what I fear.

So perhaps there falls the belief in love as another great pillar. Love has made many a man do great things as well as stupid stuff. Better be careful with it. As for ethics, I have my own bone to pick with that one. But another day that. It is after all 4.04am now…

So that leaves the long road back home with more of the reassuring road lamps burned out. It is a dark journey riding home in silence. But instead of switching on the radio, perhaps it is good to ponder what lights the way into your heart.

P.S. In case this is a dark post - Make a guess at what one finds at the end of the ‘journey to the end of the night’?

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 at 12:10 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.