Image
We're told from early on to view people as either bad or good. It's an easy distinction for a child, I suppose, but an untruthful one, because that is rarely the case. A word is almost never enough to "explain" someone.
Oh, she's bad.
But what if she's not? It seems very dull to think these limited definitions are universal, don't you think? I was thinking about that, about how hard people are to label. Well, no it's easy to put a label on someone, the problem is in putting the correct label, which is nearly impossible.
Whore.
What does that mean? Someone's whorish behavior can be equivalent to another's saint. It's so much about perspective, it's astonishing. I was talking to a friend the other night and I realized (not for the first time) how childish I can be sometimes. I often take this innocent view of things, like this means nothing, but it does and then I'm surprised when other people understood that something. If that makes any sense.
I mean, I'm weird, it's like sometimes I'm an angel and have this pure understanding of the world and at other times, I'm a complete devil. Even my friend was shocked that I can be both, so intensely innocent sometimes and then, at other times, so clearly not...
But aren't we all dual? Aren't we all walking that line between good and bad? Between innocent and...not so innocent? Sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other. And then, how is someone on the outside ever to know us? How well can you know someone when phrases like 'I wouldn't have expected that from you' often come to mind?
Because you can't really expect anything, can you?
That other person always has the potential to surprise you, to do the exact opposite from what you expected. And what baffles me most is, how can there be devils or angels in this world? I mean, the concept itself...well, it's easy to see why it appeals to us. We like to think there are embodiments of these two extremes and that maybe one day we too could fall into one of the two cathegories. But we never will, not just one, because we constantly slip into the other.
A good man.
But no one can ever be a good man. It's a phrase we often use to reassure, both ourselves and the people around us. You're a good man. Which also makes me good, for being around you. But a good man can so easily become a bad one.
He is that, but then, he's also the other. Always, the ogre and the prince co-exist. See, that's another example. Prince Charming is always the one to slay the dragon and save the girl, always the good guy, while the monster is always - naturally - the monster. There is no in-between, no accidental hero in our fairytales. No flawed hero.
And it was Sir Terry himself who said he'd much rather be a rising ape, than a falling angel.
We're all rising apes.
