from "I Remember Monster", an essay by Al Capp.

[eppur_se_muova]

(Capp had his own deep flaws, especially as concerns women. But could he write! Here are the final few paras of a longer essay.)

***SNIP***
In plays and novels and comic strips the Evil are always, in the end, paid off. We grow, therefore, to believe that all Evil, in the end, will, somehow, be paid off. It helps us to endure Evil.

But, on the other hand, it helps the Evil. They know they are not trapped in a book that's got to come out right, or a play that must have a Curtain that rewards the Good Ones and frustrates the Bad Ones. They know that in life the chances are damned good that they'll get away with it.

For the real Evil operate in a vast, ever-changing life stream. Those they hurt, as their lives touch, cry out in pain, lick their wounds, and pass on. Because life must be lived, and there is not time to stop and take revenge. Especially when the wounded have been beguiled by books and sermons and comic strips into believing that something called Life Itself will, itself, punish the Evil.

Mostly, it doesn't. It didn't punish my Benefactor. He grew richer and healthier, more famous and more honored. He kept no old friends, but he made lots of shiny new friends. Nothing happened. He just grew older and eviler.