GOoD -vs- EVIL

A few years ago, I read a book by Stephen King called "The Stand."  A few years before that I saw the entire 4-part miniseries on video.  I just rented it and watched it like it was a 6-hour movie in 4 parts.  I was curious because a few years before that I had seen several minutes of the second episode while it was on television.  Yes, I know I did it in the wrong order by watching it before reading it.  Nevertheless, the book gave me a bit of insight that the movie/miniseries did not.  Don't get me wrong, the movie/miniseries was done quite well as far as book adaptations go.  Perhaps that was because Stephen King was directly involved in the making of the miniseries.  But anyway, there was something rather profound that came to mind after getting pretty well into the book.

One of the characters we get introduced to early on had every indication of being very virtuous.  She was an elementary school teacher and it was clear that this was not just a profession for her but a special calling.  When a lot of the population died from a deadly plague, she was one of the survivors.  As an adult, she could get by but there were other survivors who might struggle on their own.  One of them was a small boy who did not speak and was a little bit crazy at times.  Nevertheless, this woman took care of him and accompanied him because he had no one else.  When she and the little boy met a young man, she and the young man hit things off quite well and the young man also took pretty good care of the boy.  She did not have relations with the man because she wanted to keep herself unblemished for "her intended," whoever that might be.  Even if it were to be him, she was not yet sure of that so she wanted to wait until she was sure.  Very noble indeed.

John 12: 1-11

SPOILER ALERT!  IF YOU INTEND TO READ OR WATCH "THE STAND" BY STEPHEN KING AND HAVEN'T DONE SO ALREADY, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER.

The woman's name was Nadine and "her intended" was a mysterious man from her dreams.  He may or may not be Larry, the man she was with at the moment.  After all, this man in her dreams did actually exist in her life about 20 years earlier when she was very young.  This dream she keeps having is of him chasing her while she runs away.  It is a magical night as they run through the dew-covered grass over the rolling hills and dunes and she is flush with the passion of youth.  She has no recollection of what his face looks like but she knows that if he catches her, she would willfully give herself wholly to his embrace.  He does not catch her during that chase so she continues to hold out for him year after year, hoping for the day that he finally does catch her.

As we read further into the book, it becomes clear that Nadine's "intended" is not Larry, nor is "her intended" even fully human even though he is of human form.  She has no recollection of his face not because she forgot but because she never saw it in the first place, like it was always in the shadow.  This man had a few nicknames, such as the "dark man," the "bogeyman," the "walkin' dude," etc.  He was creepy, and for good reason.  He seemed to have these supernatural powers that were demonic in nature.

Long before the plague wiped out the bulk of the human population, Nadine had a number of opportunities to give up her maidenhead to someone else.  Each time she backed off at the last moment and each time her hair would unnaturally change color the next morning.  Interspersed amongst these opportunities were some very terrifying and obvious signs, in addition to the sudden changes in hair color.  These were much more in-your-face and personal than anything from the occult.  In spite of all this, she remained "virtuous" to "her intended."

Nadine was making a very persistent self-sacrifice but it makes you wonder what cause she is sacrificing for.  If your self-sacrifice is for a good cause then it is a worthy, virtuous, and noble act.  If your self-sacrifice is for something dubious or even evil, then what good is it?  You're not only pretending to do good rather than really doing good, but you're actually doing evil.  Worse yet, you're also being deceptive by making yourself appear virtuous and noble.  You really can't go much lower than this.