Enjoy!
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Author’s note: This story is a revision of the Greek tale of the Ring of Gyges. Gyges, a lowly shepherd, is dutiful both in his day to day duties and to the king of Lydia (the region where Gyges lives). After a massive thunderstorm burns a hole into the earth, Gyges descends into the hole and finds a ring. Putting the ring on, he finds that he becomes invisible to all others. Able to act with impunity, Gyges goes on to murder the king and seduce the king’s wife, becoming the ruler of Lydia. The idea behind the story, which is found in Plato’s Republic, is to see whether a moral person would remain moral even if there were no consequences for his or her actions. It can be found at the start of Book II of Plato’s Republic.
Three Wishes
Once upon a time, three UWL students decided to plant a garden. They thought long and hard about where to plant their garden. One of the students, Sam, suggested they plant it on campus. After all, that would mean they wouldn’t have to walk that far to take care of it. Sam was an impatient fellow. In his youth, he would have been considered a bully. He was the type of boy who would pick the wings off butterflies just to watch them squirm. When he first sat in the lap of a shopping-mall Santa, he pulled the poor elf’s beard right off. As he grew older, he learned right and wrong and by now, as an Animal Biology major in his third year of college, he would pursue what was right, at least when it was convenient for him. He skated by in most of his classes, keeping the minimum GPA of 2.00 required for biology. Oh, he could accomplish so much more if he really tried, but he chose not to. He was impatient to get out of college and get to work and most likely by the time he got a job, he would be impatient to retire. It was his impatient nature that led him to suggest a location so close.
The other two members of the group, Pam and Graham, said, “no!” After all, campus was no place for a garden. “Students already walk all over the grass,” they said, “The garden would get trampled!” Pam suggested that they travel across the campus and plant it in Myrick Park, just across the street from campus. “That way,” she said, “it would be far enough away from the road to keep car pollution from killing the plants, but still close enough to take care of without too much walking.” Pam was very smart and logical. She was also an Animal Biology major, but she was in her fourth year. As a child, she was what her family would have called a ‘good girl.’ She always followed the rules. When her mother asked her to take out the garbage, she would do it. She loved exercising her imagination; when she was 9, she adapted the book Little Women into a play and put it on in her front yard, with all her elementary school friends playing the roles. All the people on her block turned out to watch and the show was a great success. But when her brother took credit for the play, she ensured that justice was served. That was her nature; she was fair in both act and appearance. Many of her friends looked up to her and she became known amongst her peers as a girl of wisdom, morality, and logic. When she got to college (after completing only three years of high school), she maintained a 3.5 or above in all of her classes. It was her logical brain that led her to pick Myrick Park as the ideal location of their garden.
Graham spoke out against it. “Myrick Park is full of little children who run around and play all day. Surely they will trample all over our garden!” Graham suggested that they travel across campus and through Myrick Park to the marshes on the other side. He figured that such a location was ideal; the plants would get plenty of nutrients and would have the maximum protection from outside danger. Both Sam and Pam agreed with Graham, whom they referred to as ‘the shepherd,’ because he was a theology major and the leader their group. Graham was much like Pam. He was a good child growing up and maintained a moral and virtuous life through to college. When Friday night came and all of his friends went out to get drunk, he would remain at his desk and study Holy texts in preparation for the next week’s lectures.
And so the three began their journey. They left their dorm and traveled across campus and entered Myrick Park. Just the night before, La Crosse had been rocked by a massive thunderstorm (although fairly typical by Wisconsin standards) accompanied by a cacophony and intense, driving winds. These winds had knocked down many branches, so the trio was careful about where they stepped. As they left the park and entered the marshes, they found their way blocked by a tree that had been uprooted by the night’s events. The tree, whose roots had grown long and deep, had ripped a pit into the earth. Graham, ever the intrepid, descended into the pit to try to find a way past the tree.
As he entered the pit, he felt something crack beneath his feet. Upon looking down, he saw that he had stepped on a mirror. His step had cracked the mirror into three pieces. “How convenient,” he thought, “one piece for each of us.” As he picked up the broken mirror and placed the pieces together in his hand, he was startled to see that the pieces reformed into one unbroken mirror! He rushed over to where Sam and Pam were waiting and told them what happened. When he showed them the mirror, the impatient Sam grabbed it out of his hands. When he looked in the mirror, he found that the figure looking back out at him was not a reflection of himself, but the image of a little blue man in a white hat. In his surprise, Sam dropped the mirror and again, it shattered (this time into millions of little pieces). But, before their very eyes, the mirror melded together and formed the shape of the little blue man in the white hat and red coveralls. They stood, dumbstruck, as the creature began to speak.
“Well high there!” he said, “You don’t know how long I have been cramped up in there with no one to watch me or talk to.” He seemed impervious to their incredulous looks and plunged right along. “My name is Papa, by the way. I am the leader of a great tribe of little people like myself. Unfortunately, an evil wizard captured me (he’s always trying to capture my people) and stuck me in that mirror.” He took a moment and stretched his little arms, legs, and tendons. “Since you brave souls have so selflessly saved me from my prison, I will grant you each one wish.” The three friends looked at each other in excitement. “This won’t be just any wish,” said Papa. “No matter what you wish for, there will be no negative repercussions for you. You can wish for aaaaaanything you want, and you will get it.”
As Pam and Graham thought over their wish, Sam, whose impatient nature caused him to do such things, went right ahead with his wish without thinking. “I wish that I could become the President….no…no Dictator! of the United States and wield ultimate power over the country. Who needs Congress anyway? I know how to rule a country!” And Papa winked his left eye and wiggled his nose and Sam’s wish was granted. The entire government was toppled instantly in one fell coup and Sam was installed as the first Dictator of the United States of America. And he ruled with an iron fist. He would order decrees on a whim. Anyone who displeased him was…dealt with. And so the people came to hate him and yearned for freedom. Sam was, after all, evil at heart. As he grew up he didn’t give up his evil ways, he just found ways to mask his true nature because he knew there would be consequences for bad decisions. Naturally, Sam would leap at the chance to make one decision, just one, without any repercussions to himself.
And so it was Pam’s turn to make a wish. She was a logical girl, and smart. She had lived a moral life and knew the difference between right and wrong. And so she wanted to make a wish asking for some great world solution; the eradication of some great humanitarian scourge. But then she saw Sam and the power he wielded as Dictator of the United States of America. And deep, deep inside the depths of her heart, darkness stirred. She couldn’t resist. She saw the chance to take the world and make it her own, the way she and her logical mind saw fit. And so she said, “Papa, will you make me Grand Empress of the World?” And Papa winked his left eye and wiggled his nose and granted Pam’s wish. And so Pam became the ruler of the Entire World. And she brought order to the globe and put things in their proper place. And when something didn’t have a place in her ordered world, it was…dealt with.
And so it was Graham’s turn to make a wish. Graham was a descent man, genuinely good hearted, very much like Pam. Like Pam, he saw the opportunity to aid mankind with his wish. But then he saw Sam and the power he wielded as Dictator of the United States of America and he saw Pam and the majesty and grandeur she had surrounded herself with (all at the expense of others, of course). And deep, deep inside the depths of his heart, darkness stirred. And he realized that, if he desired, he could become Supreme Ruler of the Universe. All he need do was say the words, and Papa would make it happen. But then, he thought for a moment. “What use could I, a mere Theology major from a small town in the upper Midwest, have with being such a mighty ruler? I may excel at some things, but I am no superhuman being. I would probably not make a good ruler, anyway.” So, not without hesitation, not without pause, he told made the only wish he could think of. “I wish that you and your mirror would be banished to a faraway place where you could never come in contact with another human again.” And Papa winked his left eye and wiggled his nose and this time, Papa smiled. And just like that, he vanished from sight. And there they were again, just three UWL students standing in Myrick Park. No titles. No riches and royalty. Just Sam, Pam, and Graham.
“Come on,” said Graham. “We have a garden to plant.”
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