Good vs. Evil

Groaning, I hit my alarm as it started buzzing. I'm not ready to get up yet, I thought to myself. I'm so tired!

"Stay in bed," Evil whispered. "It's so much nicer and who cares about getting up and getting things done? Just go back to sleep."

"No, get up!" Good whispered, pushing Evil out of my head. "You have things to do. If you don't get up you'll be late for work and that could lead to you getting fired!"

Groaning again, I got up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I walked to the bathroom, still waking up.

Well I gotta go to work I guess. Just another day like all the others. I rolled my eyes at myself in the bathroom mirror.

"Don't think like that!" Good said. "Today is full of new opportunities! Each day is a gift."

"No, you're right," Evil interrupted. "Today is just another day. You get up, go to work, come home, and sleep, only to repeat it all over again tomorrow!"

I brushed my teeth thinking about my options. I could choose to start the day off on the wrong foot: go to work just like every other day doing the same old stuff or... I could start my day off positively and see what new opportunities lay ahead.

"This is the day! This is the day! That the Lord has made, that the Lord has made," I started singing softly to myself as I ate my breakfast. Still humming, I pulled on my coat, grabbed my coffee and headed to my car.

"Gosh, darn it!" I shouted, tripping over a crack in the sidewalk and spilling my coffee all over myself.

"See? Today isn't a good day. Now you have to go inside and change all your clothes which will make you late for work. You should've just stayed in bed," Evil sneered.

"It's ok," Good chimed in. "It's just a little coffee. Go inside, change your clothes, and head to work. I'm sure your boss will understand."

Still grumbing, I went back inside and changed my clothes. "What a great way to start the day," I mumbled to myself.

Finally, I was in my car and headed to work. I pulled my GPS up on my phone to check traffic. Traffic was backed up quite a ways on my usual route which would've made me an hour late! But there was another way I could go, only making me ten minutes late.

"If you hadn't spilled your coffee on yourself, you would've gotten stuck in that traffic," Good pointed out.

"The accident only just happened and it would've been too late to use the other route by the time you knew."

"Nonsense!" Evil said. "You still would have had time and not been late at all!"

"I'm so sorry I'm late!" I said to my boss at work. "I spilled my coffee all over myself and there was an accident and traffic was backed up-"

My boss held up his hands to stop me. "It's fine. You're here now."

I sighed with relief and headed to my office.

When lunchtime came I realized I had forgotten my lunch. "Stupid, stupid me!" I mumbled. Leaning back in my chair I sighed. Today was not going well at all.

"Don't let it get you down," Good encouraged. "Maybe this will be better."

"How could this be better?" Evil asked. "You don't have lunch! What are you going to do?"

"Well there is such a thing as a restaurant," Good pointed out.

Yeah, I thought. I'll just go to a restaurant and get some food.With a laugh at myself I stood and put my coat on and walked to the nearest restaurant.

The food was delicious and I was starting to feel pretty good about how this mishap had turned out when I overheard someone in the restaurant.

"You're bill is twenty dollars," the waitress was telling a lady sitting at the other end of the room.

"But I don't have that much," the lady protested. "I thought the menu said it was ten."

"No, you must have misunderstood. The menu cleary says it's twenty," the waitress said, looking annoyed.

"What can you do to help this situation?" Good asked.

"There's nothing you can do," Evil said. "She should have looked at the menu closer. It's her fault. Surely she can wash dishes or something to pay for her meal."

"But what's the right thing to do?" Good questioned.

The waitress was coming to my table now and I made a decision.

"Here's your bill sir. And I'm sorry for the noise over there," she said gesturing towards the lady who still sat at the table. "People who can't afford this restaurant shouldn't eat here." She spoke loudly and looked knowingly at the lady across the room who kept her head down.

That must be embarrassing, I thought, watching her.

"Here's my card and," I leaned towards the waitress and dropped my voice to a whisper, "pay for the lady's as well please."

The waitress took a step back in shock. "You want me to do what now?" She glanced at the lady.

"Add hers to mine," I said in a low voice.

"If you say so but are you sure?"

"Quite sure."

Shaking her head in disbelief the waitress walked back to the register.

"Good choice," Good praised.

"What are you talking about good choice?" Evil sputtered. "That's called an act of kindness. Kindness! What good will that do me?"

"It's not about what good it will do you.It's about what good it will do them."

I looked from the waitress to the lady and wondered if such a small act would do anything. And then I realized it had already done something. It had made me feel good inside.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke

"Good always triumphs over evil."