Worldly wonderings

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“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

I heard myself say it and suddenly wondered what the old cliche really means. Why would the world try to stop me from attending an event if I really wanted to be there? Did the world have alternative attractions that might compete for my attention?  Under what circumstances would I be forced to say, “I’m sorry, I missed it for the world”?

I was tempted to do a web search for the origins of the phrase, but I had already lost 10-15 minutes that morning to random searches and scrolling on my phone. I wondered if the phone was a metaphor for the world — “I wouldn’t miss it for all the doomscrolling I can imagine.”

Christians cast the world in a shadow light — there is the pure and good and honest choice, and then there is the worldly one. We sometimes say, “We are not of this world,” or “We are in the world, but not of it,” and I wondered if there was a connection between those phrases and “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

I know: It’s just another way of saying “I don’t want to miss this,” but now I’ll always wonder why the world would want me not to go.

Light and Dark must balance, but not Good and Evil

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Hard to believe the autumn equinox is coming up in a week or so, and the darker months will be upon us.

I’m trying to imagine a story or mythology about the eternal struggle between Light and Dark — half of the time Light gains the upper hand, but Dark rallies and the days grow slowly colder. And like a stopped annual clock, twice a year their game ends in a tie.

One year Dark cheats and wins more than his share, and spring is delayed. The resulting imbalance shows Dark that he cheats himself by cheating his opponent, who is his brother.

I don’t fully accept the metaphor that Light and Dark must balance. Good does not need an equal supply of Evil for a balanced world, so the analogy does not fit exactly. But I can see the balance in nature — life and death, light and dark, summer and winter. In that sense, to everything there is a season.

I don’t agree that there is a time for hate, or a time for war, but I accept that in most cases there must be a balance. Fear not, for the dawn is coming, inevitably.

Allen the Alien, Chapter 7

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They walked in silence for most of the way to Tommy’s home. At one point the duckling looked over his shoulder at his two escorts.

“Thank you for coming along, Mr. Three-Eyes,” Tommy said.

“My name,” said the three-eyed alien with his booming voice, “is TriSight.”

“Yeah, sorry. I’m glad you came.”

“Are you frightened of me, young one?” asked Count Duckula.

“I’m not scared of you personally, it’s your boss,” Tommy said.

“Ellie? Ellie is harmless.”

“That’s what she wants us to think,” said the duckling. “We all know she was hoping you would kill me.”

Duckula stopped in the middle of the road, and the others had to pause until he caught up.

“Why do you believe she wanted me to kill you?”

“I’m a little too sassy for my own good. My mom says that all the time.”

“But kill you?” Duckula said. “I’m aghast.”

“I don’t know what a gast is,” Tommy said. “I just know Ellie doesn’t like me.”

“Well, nobody is going to kill you today,” said the count. “At least not I.”

“Yeah, maybe Mom will if I don’t get home soon.”

They walked the rest of the way in silence again, and Cupcake was indeed a little unhappy that her son was home later than she expected.

“I hope he wasn’t too sassy to you,” she said.

“Nonsense,” said Duckula. “Your boy is a sheer delight.”

They said goodbye, and the two assistants headed back together.

“You have been very quiet, Mr. Three-Eyes,” Duckula broke the silence.

TriSight laughed.

“Maybe I should kill you for calling me that,” he boomed.

“Please. Enough with the killing talk.”

“I do think the boy was correct. Allen probably wanted to make sure he came to no harm.”

“I would like to be clear about this,” said Duckula. “Ellie is a selfish, ambitious and mean-spirited meanie underneath that sweet smile. She always wants something a little different from what she says she wants. But she is not a killer, and I am not some minion who would do any killing for her.”

“I am glad to hear that,” said TriSight. “Do you know what it is that she wants the interplanetary federation to do for her?”

“Not exactly. But when she says she wants peace, I think she is mostly telling the truth.”

TriSight wanted to ask why Duckula said “mostly,” but just then they rejoined Allen and Ellie.