The Devil Came to Town

The Devil came to town today.

He came to tempt our souls, with drink and drugs, with sex and mad, wild music. Smelling slightly of brimstone, he came to tempt us against one another, into violence, into crime, into wars. Perhaps into war so great it’d leave no stone upon this earth unscorched.

He came to appeal to our basest impulses, our greed, our vanity. He came to whisper in our ears that we are special, each of us, more special than our neighbours. That we deserve our every desire, no matter how petty. And that if our neighbours tried to stop us getting it, we were within our rights to use all our powers to take it from them.

He came to teach us not to appreciate that which we had, but rather to strive ever for what was out of our reach, ever plotting for more, never taking the time to appreciate the simple wonders around us.

And, worst of all, he came to teach us to treat one another not as beings our equal, but rather as means to an end. Thus alienated, the Devil knew that we would, free from connection to one another, retreat inward and, trapped in isolated, insular lives of ever unfulfilled desire, retreat from the world, never knowing true joy.

Yes, today the Devil came to town.

And when he arrived, we told him not to worry about it. We were way ahead of him.