IN A STRANGE LAND

The S.S. officer who'd said he thought Thomas was the only sane one at the Embassy was in court, but no commies turned up to press the trespassing charges. Charges were dismissed, and the capitalists released Thomas from their jail.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, sir." The S.S. officer said, shaking Thomas' hand as they left the courtroom. "I really didn't think you should have been arrested. I think you were right, but I had to do my job."

**** ****

Gobbled up by Hobb's Leviathan.

Holy Cow, swallowed up by a big flying whale, spit up on the shores of Babylon? Was he crazy, or some kind of a modern-day Jonah?

God told Jonah to preach repentance to the Ninevites. But Jonah was proud. Those Ninevites are beyond the pale of redemption anyway, they all deserve to burn up in their own wickedness, Jonah had decided, and set out in the opposite direction.

But God, unimpressed by Jonah, made sure everything went as planned.

Once in Nineveh, Jonah, impressed by God, got to preaching and the Ninevites repented.

*** ***

Thomas figured that one could be an optimist or a pessimist.

Some ancients had said that "ignorance is the only sin."

Perhaps that explained why they ignored the fact that nuclear weapons are designed, constructed, and deployed for the sole practical (mechanical) purpose of murdering the greatest number of humans with the greatest efficiency. It all seemed to Thomas innately evil, like the medieval doctrine of original sin.

And how then can the creatures which created demonic devices be "basically good," and why shouldn't they roast in eternal agony?

If they were building demonic devices, might "basically good" people possibly be ignorant enough to miss the mark and think that their devilish creation was actually averting some greater evil? If the United States was missing the mark, the optimist must think, its only salvation might lie in ignorance.

IN THE MIND ===================>>