SISTERS (IP)

 The three sisters were having a virtual meeting somewhere in the Ethernet of their inner minds.  From their vantage point they looked over all the human race; and none of them liked what they saw.  As was usual, the eldest sister, Honour, took the lead.

‘This cannot go on! Every day there are more and more murders, rapes, thefts and general nastinesses all round. The meek and the good and the kind suffer and the wicked and the criminals prosper. And what with all the wars…..well, like I said it cannot go on!’

The middle sister, Patience, looked thoughtful but said nothing.

Hope, the youngest of the three, smiled her most comforting smile.

‘I think, sisters, it may be time to use some of the remedial powers our Great Grandmother Pandora bequeathed to us; surely we can think of some sort of a plan to help Mankind?’

Honour nodded.

‘Indeed. And I have been looking through Pandora’s treasure pod already. I have found a thought formula which, when applied, will rid the Earth of one undesirable behaviour once and for all. But the formula can be used only once. We must consider this very carefully, and not waste it on trivia; nor must we use it unless we are absolutely sure we have made the right choice, for what is done cannot be undone’.

For eons the debate raged; the sisters discussed every form of harmful behaviour they could think of; first they considered obvious criminal behaviour, starting with all forms of violence; but they concluded that if physical violence disappeared from the Earth, humans of bad intent would find other more subtle ways to hurt each other, torment such as harsh words and looks, playing nasty tricks on each other and so forth.  All of which could send people insane, until the planet was filled with madness and chaos.

The seven deadly sins seemed like a sensible area of discussion; but they soon realised that Pride often, as it was said, came before a fall; and anyway, there was nothing wrong with pride in your home or appearance and so on. In fact it could be a good thing. Greed was often self-punishing, as friends and respect were lost. Lust – only a sin if unwanted, and would the human race survive without it? Envy often carried its own punishment of unfulfilment, and gluttony brought illness so often served as a warning to others, while wrath could be righteous anger. As for sloth; it often led to gluttony with all its consequences. And the sisters agreed once again that doing away with any one of them might leave a gap soon to be filled by an increase in the others.

At length, Hope made a suggestion which silenced her sisters for a moment, as they considered the possibilities for good or evil of the disappearance of Bullying. Honour and Hope got quite excited as they seemed to be reaching some sort of agreement. There seemed to be very little downside to the abolition of this insidiously evil behaviour, Both turned to Patience, who had been listening attentively to the conversation, but remained rather quiet.

‘Sisters’ said Patience, ‘I have listened carefully to all the points you make in support of this choice, and thoroughly understand your enthusiasm for Hope’s suggestion; there is so much misery caused by bullying, mainly to youngsters, some of whom are even driven to take their own lives. And in the workplace lives are ruined by it.  However, can any of us actually be sure that we can define precisely what bullying is? We cannot know what would happen if we use the formula against any of these behaviours. I propose we put the matter to a vote of the whole of Mankind!’

Honour was outraged.

‘Oh for goodness sake Patience, this is you all over.’ She said in a mocking imitation of Patience’s sweet soft voice. ‘Let’s wait for lord knows how long until the stupid humans can make up their minds. And most of them wouldn’t even bother to vote anyway! Let’s face it, humans are weak and not very intelligent on the whole.  It is the likes of us who must decide.’

Patience replied: ‘Sister that is unfair.  How can you say such a thing? We are immortals, but……’

‘Oh shut up you weak idiot, nothing would ever change if we listened to you.  Look, someone’s got to make the decision, and I say it’s bullying we should choose to destroy. So does Hope.  And remember I am the eldest so I have the final say.’

The force of the venom aimed at Patience sent her flying backwards with the sheer viciousness of her sisters speech.

Hope tried very hard to keep her temper. ‘Honour! What on cloud do you think you are doing! We can all call up the Force – remember, we are ALL immortals. You may be the eldest but I too am getting tired of being pushed around by you! We are sisters and we are squabbling over the fate of the Earth! What’s that all about? Bullying was MY suggestion, remember, and what you have just done has proved to me it is the right choice.  Patience, I think we must vote now before things get worse. No matter if you can’t decide. Two votes out of three is enough.’

Honour smiled. She had made her point.  She loaded the formula into machine, and each sister sent her vote. A unanimous verdict was recorded, and the formula to end Bullying was dispersed throughout the human world.

A few earth months later, the world was a much happier place on the whole; more smiles, less tears.  The downside of the disappearance of bullying was the failure and subsequent closure of many banks and businesses throughout the world which had been built on bullying. Few were sorry to see them go, except the millions of employees who though had been glad to see the end of bullying, were now out of work and had new problems to worry about.

Up in the Ethernet, the two remaining sisters awaited the return of their elder sibling who had been whisked away for retraining by their Great Grandmother Pandora, who had been outraged by the methods used by Honour to get her way.  Pandora had also decided to re-examine her bequests.

Patience sat serene as ever bearing no grudges.  Hope as usual was confident that eventually all would be well, but rather thought that if the occasion ever arose again, next time she would vote for the abolition of Arrogance