A group of elderly men speak to a returning adventurer, each give a story from their past dealing with the perplexity of choices. You can do something that is good and it can have a 'bad' outcome and you can do something bad that turns out well.
A young man returns home after searching for his purpose in life, but he finds himself more confused than when he left. He does not understand how in life you can do something 'good' and 'bad' can come from it.
Fearing choices, he decides he will never make a choice again in his life. Stopped by a group of fourteen of his city's elders, they proceed to each tell a story from their past that deals directly with 'good' choices they made turning out 'bad'.
Comical and tragic, each story presents one of life's greatest struggles: How do you make choices in a world when so much bad can come from them?
Excerpt
“The young man cried, 'I can do nothing, but still by doing nothing I might do good that turns bad or bad to turns good or bad that stays bad. There is no hope for my life.' He said, 'I wish I did not think of these things. I wish I never had these thoughts and I could be like all other men that do not care of such things.' Then as he entered his city, he by chance met a group of old men that had all lived life and seen everything that it has to offer. These men sensed the boy to be in great trouble and for that reason, they did what old men do: tell stories.
“The old men urged him to sit down and learned that he was in question over life and choice. They set about retelling stories of their past: stories where a small or large choice that they believed to be good, had a seemingly bad effect in the end. The boy listened to all of these stories, doing the best he could to understand and change his thoughts; realize what he was missing. When they were all done, the boy was no further than when the stories started.”
The philosopher stopped and the young man listened to him closely. The philosopher said, “Young man, the average person has a belief. He believes that there is nothing worse than suffering wrong; but in truth that is a lie. The worst thing a man can do is cause wrong. For such reason, when ever he suffers or fails by a choice he made or another man made, he believes that his condition is bad and that the choice was bad. Young man, it might be hard for you to believe, but a choice can not be measured in such a way.
“Then there are some that have made choices that they believe to have caused wrong. These men, if they think wrongdoing is the worst thing, feel much pain over their choices; but what all men must know, is that the future is full of choices and one choice can be muddled by another and even the smallest things can change a seemingly good choice into a bad one. What you think is very true, but you must say it differently. A good choice can seem to cause bad and a bad choice can seem to cause good. Seeming is different than being.” The young man nodded.
The philosopher said, “Justice, the knowledge of good and bad in the world and courage: the action of good in the world are two virtues that men follow after their entire lives. It is not easy to know when to do nothing. Young man, it is quite hard to see how your actions will end. A man is courageous because he knows what to do. A man is a just because he knows what right and wrong are. It is a lifetime of search in wisdom and temperance to come to grasp with these complex thoughts. They are beyond your age. Each of us have lists of the good and bad we have done that can not be unwritten.”
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