Sam Varghese
Monday, 23 June 2008 10:37
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 4
But we need the public record set straight so I thought I would take it upon myself to offer a few words.
In his monumental work East of Eden (which many rank above the Nobel Prize-winning The Grapes of Wrath), the late American writer John Steinbeck poses the question: What is the world's story about? He believes there is just one story - the constant battle between good and evil. "A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have only the hard, clean questions: was it good or was it evil? Have I done well or ill?"
Steinbeck cites the case of a man who clawed his way to the top by ruining many people, building his fortune on the backs of others whom he trampled underfoot. He spent most of the rest of his life trying to buy back the trust and love of people whom he had ruined. In the process he more than balanced the evil he had done. But when this man died, nearly everyone greeted the news with pleasure. Several people said, "Thank God, that son of a bitch is dead."
For many people, that period when they put this question - have I done well or ill? - to themselves comes in the latter half of their lives, when they approach or cross 50. This applies, in particular, to public figures who would like to rewrite history so that they are remembered kindly.
Some leave the question until later - Richard Milhous Nixon tried to characterise his actions as benevolent by writing a book about Vietnam when he was in the grip of disease. It was not difficult to find a falsehood in every paragraph.
Another of the Vietnam war gang, Robert McNamara, did likewise - he went one better by\also allowing a film to be made in which he tried to cast himself as the man who had no choice.
The problem is compounded by the fourth estate who, true to form, generally do everything but canonise such people.
