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Friday, August 01, 2008

The Adventures of Al Truist: "Vigilantes"

The high tide brought in lots of starfish, leaving them strewn across the beach when the tide backed down. It was like the milky way on the beach. Along this rather deserted stretch, the old man watched as a young boy padded across the beach, picked up a starfish and flung it back into the water. The little boy seemed unfazed by the seemingly impossible task of flinging the thousands of starfish back into the sea.

The old man walked out from under the shade of the tree and shouted to the boy, "Hey, you there, what's your name?"
The boy glanced at the man before giving the starfish a good lob, replying, "My name's Al. Al Truist. But you can just call me Al."
"Al, there are more starfish here than the hairs on your head, why would it matter to throw some back into the sea?"
The boy looked down at the crimson red starfish in his hand, hesitated. He then gave it a hard swing, sending it spiralling towards the sea, skipping over a few waves and dislodging one or two of the starfish's arms. "It mattered to that one."

"You're pretty much an optimist, aren't you?"
"And you're a pretty cynical old prune." Al picked out a particularly shiny specimen and gave it a good throw.
"And I'd imagine you'd always do the good things?"
"Anything to make the world a better place, no matter how small."
"If you could have held the gun to Hitler's head and ended World War 2 and the Jewish Holocaust, will you pull the trigger?"
Al scoffed and replied without hesitation, "Of course. Without hesitation."
"Ah. So you'd save the life of a starfish, but not spare the life of another human?"

Al held his arms akimbo. Saving starfish was an important job for him, but changing another person's principles was even more so. The starfish had to wait in the scorching sun while he knocked sense into this old man.
"But Hitler caused so much suffering! He had to face punishment for his atrocities!"
"Does the punishment amount to a bullet to his brain delivered by you?"
"If that's what it takes to make the world a better place, then yes, I'd do it." Al Truist believed he stood for everything that was just and good in the world.
"But wouldn't that make you a murderer?"
"For the greater good, I'd do it!" Al puffed his chest out, unhappy that his morals were being challenged.
"If you stand for justice and all that is good, what kind of justice is robbing a person's life? Will you be willing to commit atrocities to stop greater atrocities? In killing one person just to stop the suffering of many, aren't you still a criminal?"
"But I could just apprehend him and... and.... and justice will be served in a war criminal's tribunal!"
"But the altruist in you will not accept the delay. You will want punishments to be meted out swiftly."

Al was silent. His mind raced with ideas to counter this old man.

"Remember boy, that in being altruistic and aiming for the greater good, you may have to end up harbouring evil thoughts against people who are impeding this goal of greater good. Are you then still an altruist for harbouring such thoughts?" The old man turned and walked back into the shade, leaving Al to think about what he said.

The boy silently picked up another starfish and flung it into the sea. This was much easier than thinking about what the man just said. -Jimmy