A story by Axel Hacke a German journalist and author, translated by yours truly.

He Lives Here

I met God the other day at the recycling container. He lives in the neighborhood but we hadn’t met for a while. The tired creases around his eyes had deepened, his white hair could have used a trim, he still wore the old grey wool coat and leather gloves; it’s been cold, he seems to be susceptible.

We went for a coffee. “Aren’t you tempted,” I asked: “to come down hard, to show the murderers who’s in charge, sort of hashtag #Noah’s Deluge, Sodom, Gomorra?” “Yes, but where to begin, where to stop?” Evil exists in the world day in, day out, he’d be busy to no end. He created evil because he thought: How could we recognize the good if evil doesn’t exist? How could you greet the day if night didn’t exist? How would it be possible to appreciate life if death didn’t exist? “Don’t you agree?” But it tortures him, he understands what he provoked, and he regrets it, all the way back to the big bang. What can he do? He is creator, not a repair man, he doesn’t even know how to fix it.

“What are you even doing here in the neighborhood,” I asked him. “That’s the other side of the story. The terrific life you built here, civilization, tolerance, culture. The cold drinks.” He could not longer bear to be outside, he practically fled here, he shouted, louder, and almost tipped his cup over with roving arms. He was a refugee from the universe. The loneliness. Eternity. The vastness. The unmoored drifting. No human could imagine what it felt like. Do you know how boring infinity is? And that’s why he was here, because he wanted, for once, to share in what he had created. Yes, that’s how he phrased it, “created,” and added – “I’m finally here!”

“Bad timing,” I said. “You can say that again,” he said. “Truth be told, it weighs on me. Not because it interferes with my enjoyment of life, don’t get me wrong. It gets me down because it’s ultimately all my fault, for one, and secondly, because I am unable to help you. Honestly. You have to help yourself. And you can. And you will.”

(If you want to read the non-religious, philosophical version of this, go back to Hannah Arendt On Revolution. FH) 

Ps – I had a conversation with a friend yesterday, about the two options open to us – each equally tempting. One we can just crawl under the covers and seek refuge in privacy. Or two, we can get active and join the fight against injustice that we perceive to be in our immediate future. I believe we can do both, depending on our energy levels. If enough people do both, and not all are in sync – there will be a movement, even if one occasionally drops out because it is all too depressing.  We’ll see.