by AllanS » May 4th, 2007, 9:16 am
No one can control all of their appetites to a perfect degree. The crazy human bus weaves all over the road, no matter how much we wrestle the steering wheel. What's more, often enough and to our shame, we want it to.
The yetzer tov is too weak to subdue the yetzer ra. If so, that's a universal evil in my book, one we're born with.
If that's the end of the story, however, if people are fundamentally evil, why are they so often unhappy with that evil? Ashamed of that nakedness?
Suppose I had a magic pill that could cure violent tempers, cure addictions, cure all sorts of dark perversions, hatreds and so on. I can imagine that some would not take the pill, preferring their evil ways. But most would take it right-willingly.
Or would they... Hmmm.
“And turn their grief into song?" he replied. "That would be a gracious act and a good beginning."
Quid and Harmony: a fund-raising project for the Fistula Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
www.smithysbook.com