One of the most disturbing and thought provoking books that I have listened to in the last couple of years was a book called The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

http://www.randomhouse.com/kvpa/cormacmccarthy/

In order to tell you about my opinions of this book, I first need to give you a little background on the plot.  I will not spoil anything in case you want to read it. 

The book takes place after some type of massive disaster that nearly wipes out all of human existence.  The main characters in the book are a man and his son.  They are attempting to go towards the coast.  During their journey they are faced with a number of hurdles.  Survival is the most common.  They are always searching for food and also trying to steer clear of strangers who could be a danger to them.  The vast majority of people they meet on the road are evil and do terrible things.  One of the main questions in this book is why do these people do evil things.

In my opinion this book is not a story about good and evil even though there are a lot of hideous acts that occur.  It is a book about choices.  What would you do if you were in a situation were everybody you loved died, you had no food or home, and little hope that things will be better tomorrow.  If you were faced with that life would you choose to be a good person?  Would you attempt to make the world a better place by showing your humanity or would you just survive even if it means hurting others in the process?  An even worse possibility is that you loose your humanity all together. 

Going through our daily lives seems hard at times.  We all stumble over the hurdles that we come across on a regular basis, but for the most part we fall in line and live our lives the way that society tells us we should.  Be kind to others and try to do something greater than yourself.  Our newly elected president just said something very similar in his inauguration speech, all be it a little more elegantly.  The question that this book brings out is what if society doesn’t exist.  What if we do not have that silent hand constantly steering us in the right direction?  Are people innately good and the rules of society the result of that goodness or is it the other way around?   Are we good because we developed a society that tells us we have to be that way?  I would like to believe that I am good because I choose to be and not because society tells me to.  Because I am good and attempt to make good choices I contribute to society in order to make it better.  As a result if society didn’t exist I would still attempt to make good decisions. 

No scientist can test to see where goodness comes from or what people can do in extreme situations, but the great thing about fiction is that we have an avenue to explore the possibilities.