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Please read the blog entry "The Road to Hell..." from Wed. May 16th, 2018 to prepare for participating in this discussion.

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For your convenience this is a copy of the blog entry "The Road to Hell..."



…is paved in good intentions. Before writing “The Conduit”, before we decided to set it in Canada rather than Germany and before I decided to write it in English rather than in German, this was the title I had considered for the novel.

It seemed fitting at the time as the idea for the story had not yet included the final plot twist. Originally the idea was that the gap (or Armageddon) would be brought about as a result of well-intended but ill-conceived actions taken by characters in the novel. A lot of it can still be seen in the final product of course. Ray Edwards witnesses what he interprets as a rape of a mentally challenged minor and he does the right thing. He reports the incidence to the police. The child protection agency gets involved in the case and they do the right thing. In order to protect the minor from an abusive environment she is removed from her family and her community in her own best interests. Dr. Lee was anyway caught between a rock and a hard place when the girl was brought to him and he wonders if he was responsible for her miscarriage. MP Margarete Bender, who is a victim of abuse, does the right thing. She is making Canadians aware of the plight of abused women and of the often times unjust justice system that allows rapists and other perpetrators of abuse to get away with their crime. She demands that Zack Shuster be held accountable for his crime not due to ill content toward him, but to serve justice to his victim.

None of the characters mean to do ill. On the contrary, they all have the best of intentions. But in the end it looks like their very actions are what bring on the demise of the girl which in turn brings on the onset of Armageddon, or of the gap as the guardians of the Conduit would call it.

In the final version of the novel a final plot twist proves that regardless of the actions taken by the characters the gap was about to happen.

But watching the news of global events around me I was once again reminded of the saying, “The road to Hell is paved in good intentions.” How often does it happen that people claim and often times think that they are doing good only to see these efforts turn into a disaster instead? But do you think that these same people would then step back, admit that they had made a mistake and start analysing to make sure that the same mistake will not be repeated again in the future?

Our other novel “The Art of Being Another” very briefly scratches at another such incidence, although we do not elaborate much in the novel.

At the end of the First World War socialists and communists in Germany started a nationwide strike causing an abrupt and final collapse of the German war effort. The intentions were good. Enough people had died, this war needed to come to an end sooner rather than later. They were doing the right thing, or where they?

By causing a complete collapse of the German front the nation was put into a position where they had nothing to bargain with. The former enemy dictated the terms of surrender and these terms were harsh and ensured that this was not the end. Germany lost large tracts of territory, her military pride was insulted and ludicrous reparation payments caused a complete economic collapse. The population was suffering. And like every time the population suffers, people look for someone to blame and for an easy solution to end their suffering. The time was ripe for populists and radicals to make their moves. And they did. Under severe restrictions in terms of the size and equipment of their army due to the Treaty of Versailles, the Weimar Republic could do nothing but watch as the Brownshirts grew to a para-military force of 3.5 million men. The rest of the story we know all too well. Hitler came to power, established himself as a dictator and six years later the war that had ended in 1918 was now continued with a vengeance.

In the end it could be said that in order to save a few lives at the front of the Great War, 44 million lives were sacrificed when the war returned in 1939. And one has to wonder if it would not have been better to let the Great War run its course, presumably still leading to Germany’s defeat but with peace negotiations held while Germany was still in a position to let the war continue for years if need be. This may have led to more favourable peace terms, less suffering in Germany after the war and a much less fertile ground for the likes of Hitler and his ilk. Then perhaps the war to end all wars may have ended all wars, at least in Europe, instead of ensuring that a second war will be fought.

I have a lot more thoughts on this subject as it relates to more modern times. But this blog entry is starting to become rather lengthy. So, allow me to draw some conclusions and to set up another entry in the near future.

Why is it that the road to hell is paved in good intentions? Why is it that so often these words prove all too true in retrospect?

The answer to this is actually quite simple, cruel, but simple. The reason is that there is a difference between intent and responsibility.

Most people want to do good. They see an injustice or an evil and they want to change it. But even though they may very well be committed to their cause and dedicate their entire life to it, what these people refuse to do is take responsibility for their own actions.

Intent alone is not enough. In order for good intentions to turn into a good end result the person or the people intending to do good must also be willing to take responsibility for their own actions. They must be ever critical about the results of their actions and they must be prepared to both admit when they have made a mistake and to then take action to correct the mistake.

If you wish to do good, but you refuse the responsibility that comes with it (by expecting someone else to follow suit, change their behaviour and/or to pay for it for example), then chances are that all you will be doing in the end is setting another stone on the road to Hell.