With my middle son’s return from Italy, where he toured this summer as an English language camp tutor, and daughter’s beautiful wedding day stresses resolved, I picked up The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis for a brief leisurely read. Don’t construe anything by the title; all is well on all fronts, but my son happened to spend some time in Narni, where Lewis derived his title for The Chronicles of Narnia. Therefore, it seemed appropriate to peruse this book which was required reading for my youngest son’s recent English course.

Evil can be undone, but it cannot ‘develop’ into good. Time does not heal it. ~C.S. Lewis

This quote caused me to pause my reading and finally stop the endless chase of to-do’s in order to write. I have to admit that nearly every day I think of writing on so many topics and observations; but with my mind always thinking of the next (you insert the number) things to do, I have not taken the time to record my thoughts until now.

Passion, expectations, conflicting cultural protocols, and a sense of being victimized by a grave injustice has flared much discussion and analysis within my household. And although I feel we are nearly at a point of resolution, I have pondered and taught my family that when bad things happen we should look for the good.

I believe, based on long-term observation, this to be true. Yet while C.S. Lewis may be accurate that evil its self cannot be good and that time does not make the wrong right, I have found that good can still grow from what evil has seemingly destroyed.

We humans have a fitrah, a primordial directive that expresses itself through acknowledgement of the Creator. We have potential to be the best that humanity can aspire to, and we also have the prospect of being the worst of creations. However, the capacities of free-will and intellect can differentiate us from other creations and give us the ability to choose our response to threats and injustices. It is in how we respond that we find who we really are, and evil gives us the path to perdition or Paradise. For now, I’ll seek peace and tranquility within my book so that I don’t lose my soul.

If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell ~C.S. Lewis