I was delighted when I came to the astounding conclusion that I of all people had finally written something that might endure for thousands of years. To wit, a statement in the form of a maxim merely eight words in length:

"He who ignores evil is good for nothing."

No doubt those eloquently shaped eight words would be on the tips of millions of tongues for centuries, I surmised, whereas volumes of weighty tomes written over my lifetime would probably not even see the light of day.

Finally! I exclaimed, here is my claim to fame. Ah, but to claim that fame I must market the masterful maxim to contemporary minds, that it be indelibly embedded in the collective consciousness to be passed on down the generations.

My only qualm was that, although my maxim would be long remembered, my name might be soon forgotten. But no matter, I concluded, for what is in my name except my vanity? What really matters is this: even if my byline is detached from my immortal maxim, no doubt the maxim will still advance the highest of causes in perpetuity. Especially if I manage to convince the public to revert to the ancient method of education whereby the reading and writing of language is taught by the learning of maxims. Here are a few examples from an ancient children's primer:

"Though rich, if you are idle, you'll be poor."

"When young, to older folks give willing ear."

"Bad friends an evil harvest do create."

"Many will hate you if you love yourself."

"No one in an angry mood may safely plan."

Of course, sophisticated skeptics maintain that the Maxim Method fails to obtain maximal results in the moral sphere, because, they say, it merely exposes the hypocrisy of the preaching authorities, thereby rendering students cynical in the modern, pejorative sense. But that might work to our moral advantage providing that a classical outlet, for Cynicism, is made available via the ancient cynical forms of protest against the prevailing authorities and, most of all, against the corruption engendered by society at large. After all, other than a few public displays of reprehensible personal conduct, the ancient Cynics were virtual saints, models in thought and in fashion for saints of later days. But now, without the personal guidance of a traditional Cynic, cynicism has become just another excuse for ignoring the eternal platitudes altogether, a justification for participating in society's many learned abominations.

Indeed, my great maxim originated in my own cynicism regarding PMA, or "positive mental attitude," which has a bearing on my own creation, “Those who ignore evil are good for nothing,” because many PMA people have convinced themselves there is no such thing as evil, not to mention the Devil, and even if there were, evil must be ignored lest one’s evil thoughts bear fruit in dastardly deeds.

Mind you, I do not believe it behooves everyone to make a career out of singing the Blues, although singing the Blues does heal the soul, as many successful Blue's singers such as John Lee Hooker gladly inform us. Still, nobody likes an untalented sad sack or suspicious paranoid schizophrenic for long, nor is a dogmatic pessimist very popular nowadays unless he is a stand-up comedian.

Yes, we prefer to have our spirits lifted. We cannot operate without at least a touch of faith and good feelings. Yet we still know a fool when we see one.  And if she is a cock-eyed optimist, she is, alas, a fool on purpose while denying she is a fool. So when I refer to PMA, I refer to intentionally exaggerated optimism, to calculated overconfidence driven by fear, something much worse and more dangerous than simpleton foolishness. Further, lest evil be ignored and nothing good be done by way of offset or amelioration, I exaggerate the evil aspects of life, just as any good sophist would do, to press a good point in contrast to the opposing evil.

The" PMA" phrase, as every country bumpkin once knew, was coined by city slickers, shysters and hucksters out to make a fast buck on hypocrisy, on religion without a Devil, and on products without defects. Much evil was therefore ignored and less and less good done, hence the conservative complaint about the degenerate society.

The PMA conceit is as old as superstition. Indeed, the notion has a mystical appeal to the undeveloped mind. The gist of it is this: if we stuff enough optimistic thoughts into our noggins, the demons will be cast out and good fortune will follow. If it does not so follow, at least we shall be mighty pleased with ourselves in the interim. Furthermore, if our faith is strong enough, even the most tragic end is really no end at all, for there is no end to our positive mental attitude, to our confidence in our goodness fortified with good thoughts. Getting run over by a cement truck might put an end to our will to live forever, but we would never know it thereafter, therefore why know it beforehand?

Unfortunately, a great deal of stuffing is required to pump up people with more than half a brain. According to the more orthodox enthusiasts, the inflation procedure must be performed according to certain pseudo-scientific rituals lest the prescription fail. In extreme cases, a hefty life-planning bible must be carried on the person at all times so that the devotee may constantly meditate on her pilgrimage while walking the straight and true path to self-improvement, the sacred object thereof being unending Success. For secular success to be assured, daily incantations of positive affirmations are often necessary. There must be no evil thought, spoken or done. The positive affirmation prayers are often composed before going to bed at night, to be dreamt of and diligently read the next day. In the eagerness to prepare for every contingency, sometimes the positive affirmations become much too unwieldy to remember, so they must be inserted in your personal life-planning bible for further reference. Revival seminars should also be regularly attended. And subliminal tapes were once in vogue for those intelligent people who consciously resist hyperbolic humbug; many such tapes were homemade in bathroom studios: a toilet is kept flushing with a barely perceptible voice over, "You are God Almighty, nothing can stop You now, the world is Yours...."

But that is the extreme, orthodox version of PMA. There is a more pervasive and subtle version. It is a diabolical conspiracy to cover up fear by refusing to look evil in the face, an evil that is all too often part of the self. Hence it is an evasion of personal responsibility, and in that evasion evil grows. It is a forced, hypocritical tendency to ignore evil, an attempt to blot it out by calling it nothing. By denying its existence within, it is perpetuated without. And by denying its existence without, evil's domain within expands, engorged by fear and ignorance.

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, and you will do no evil, or so it is said, while the evil empire thrives all around on suffering and death. As long as it is not on my doorstep, why make myself miserable knowing about it? Therefore turn off the news, do not read that article, and at the slightest hint of evil turn and say, "I prefer not to hear about that, for I have found it is better to be positive. Let's change the subject."

I certainly hope, when the Gestapo comes to my door to relocate my family, that my neighbors with a positive mental attitude will have a radical change of heart and come to our aid. For evil can be fought with good deeds, and the higher goods might require, in the event of pre-emptive strikes, hand-to-hand combat. Of course that combat might not have been necessary if only evil had of been nipped in the bud in the first place instead of being ignored. As a matter of fact, some of the greatest horrors in history sprung from positive mental attitudes. When evil is ignored or denied, when one has been saved by the grace of positive thinking, of thinking Big, and when finally push comes to shove, evil has its fullest sway over the mob, for there is no such thing as evil anymore.

Mobs are notorious lovers of evil, giving themselves up to sadistic and masochistic impulses in the name of God, Country, Liberty, Democracy, or you name it. And when the mob comes for you, where will your neighbor the PMA enthusiast be? Cowering behind his door, or in the mob itself?

A couple of the foregoing considerations led me to formulate my maxim and to proceed marketing it to my contemporaries by posting it on the Internet. Immediately after it was published, a viewer complained that she did not understand it because it had no punch line; another viewer objected that it was meaningless because it was not in the form of a syllogism.  I also received a great deal of positive feedback, including the following comments:

 "Good and evil are contraries. To know one of them, a man must know the other. To be responsible for either, he must know the difference between them.

"He who ignores evil is good for nothing because he does nothing about it except flee. The less evil he knows, the less good he is capable of knowing or doing.

"The greater the evil a good man knows, the more good he can do. That is why the best heroes and saints are found in the worst circumstances."

 "He who observes evil and does nothing is poor."

I think it is reasonable to conclude, and I think the president would agree with me, although we disagree on the definition of evil, that:

"He who ignores evil is good for nothing."