Honor, glory, valor and heroism

A random weeknight
still in my work clothes
out with my roommate
who’s picking something up from a used-to-be roommate
who’s having a party at her house.
Young people, fashionable
milling around
younger than me
I feel tired.
How I got into a conversation, I don’t know
but there you were at my elbow
confident in your own handsome face
asking me what I do
and gamely going along with the conversation when I brought up Soviet Russia.
Expressing interest, even!
It was evil, I said.
You flinched. Visibly flinched.
Don’t say that, you said. Don’t.
Why not, I asked.
You shouldn’t.
Why not?
It’s not like that
They meant well.
It came from idealism.
They were trying to do good.
The intent was noble.
And what about what we’ve done?
I don’t remember the rest of this exchange
(I don’t even remember your name)
I’m pretty sure it lasted just a few minutes
but it stuck with me, that flinch
and that recoiling from the possibility
that there is evil in this world
that we deny human nature at our peril.