Expectations

The world is a good place, isn’t it. Isn’t it? We wake up each morning thinking something good awaits us or at least nothing bad. Despite the wars, the destruction of temples, the holocaust, we persist in our optimism for goodness in our day and not the expectation of evil.

It could be otherwise. I started reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova last night. It’s a vampire bestseller from 2005. Page after page-turner page is filled with a bullet fire of scary vignettes.
A kindly professor opens an ancient book and it reeks of foetid decay, foreshadowing terrible events to come.
 I don’t expect that when I open a book.
Unsolicited, a street artist has made a painting of a father and daughter on a terrace at a Paris cafe and they buy it from him. The daughter sips her orange drink in the painting and sunlight dapples the scene. With a razor of fear, the girl notices that the artist has painted a dark man sitting at the next table. She knows that table was empty! 
You don’t really expect scary people to sit invisibly at a table next to you.
A beloved friend is heard walking up the stairs to visit. He is eagerly awaited. The wine has been uncorked and the table is laid for dinner. Just as his knock should be heard at the door, there is silence. Uh oh, Dracula has savaged his neck and beloved friend is snuffed out and written out in a few meagre sentences.
We have lots of dinner parties but I never expect that to happen

I used to be able to read these sorts of books with no trouble at all but they’re too scary now and I think I may be too old. I prefer the reliability of my expectations. I can’t bear the unprovoked attacks and willy-nilly terror. Horror lurks around every corner and humans are sitting ducks. Evil is the norm. Kostova describes that world too well.

I love the real Dracula by Bram Stoker and reread it every few years. You may think that it is like this Kostova book, but it isn’t. Dracula is a book about the dominance of goodness over evil. Yes, it’s filled with thrilling and creepy events but they are tempered by the good actions of people. The undead are deeply worrying but humans have strong defences against them. Jonathan Harker, Mina Murray, Quincey Morris, the Hon. Arthur Holmwood, John Seward and Dr. Van Helsing confront the vampire with loyalty, decency, valour, intelligence, and sincerity – and they win. We can’t turn into bats, but we win. I am very fond of these characters and recognize people I know in them. I won’t name names but feel certain that a few would travel across Transylvania to save my soul. That’s a comfort.

I think we all know a few of these characters. Maybe that’s why we persist in our belief. The world is a good place. Isn’t it?