The Pariah Gambit

It was only supposed to be a short stop off on the way home to pick up some groceries, but things never quite go as smoothly as you would like.  After walking past the item you were looking for three times, one of the employees pointed out where it was. Maybe it was just your internal monologue taking over, but you could swear that there had been a smug gleam in her eye when she pointed to it. Maybe she had watched you walking back and forth and thought that this was her chance to show her superiority.  Then, just like always, you found yourself in the slowest moving of all the lines.  "Express my ass", you said under your breath as you moved to the next line just in time for the cashier to place a lane closed sign on the conveyor.  The only other open lane beckoned to you since you couldn't exactly reverse course having invested yourself in your initial misfortune.  "Price check", said the third cashier, and you resolved yourself to another loss.

Having finally paid for your one item, you walk out to the parking lot.  Bucking the recent trend, at least you remember where you parked.  As you approach your car, you see a tall thin young man standing behind your car.  His clothing is somewhat retro chic, but even from a distance it appears a little musty.  You can almost taste it, but the word for the smell eludes you.  You expect that he will dismiss himself as you get closer but he does not.  You click your unlock button on your remote expecting that the chirp will break him out of his apparent trance, but it fails to do so.  As you get within ten feet, he speaks in a somewhat smarmy and exotic accent.  "Nice bumper sticker".  "Oh, thanks", you say, now more than ever hoping that this interlude is coming to an end.  "Do you really want it?" he asks.  Well, at least now you know which bumper sticker he is talking about.  He has apparently been eyeing your "World Peace" sticker.  "Sure, who doesn't", you reply as you reach for your door handle.  "If what you say is true, I have a proposition for you", he says, and you find yourself reaching for his outstretched hand despite all of the objections of your conscious brain.

As soon as your flesh makes contact with his cold skin, your reality melts away and you find yourself in the "dream sequence" so prevalent in the media.  The colors aren't quite right and there is a general haziness around the edges.  You try to look around, but it is clear that there is a particular scene that you are meant to observe.  In front of you, in what appears to be a deserted park, you see a picnic table.  The ground around it is scattered with what appears to be leaves, but these are all green and not the typical fall bouquet,  Across the table from each other, you can see two figures.  The first is instantly familiar as your new "friend" from the parking lot, but the second is not known to you.  He has a paternal appearance and is evidently the older of the two.  You ponder whether he is your host's father, but then your attention is drawn to their conversation.

"God, it feels like we have been playing forever", says the younger man.  You hadn't noticed this before, but his words suddenly make you aware that there is a chess match in progress between the two.  The older man seems to reflect on the comment, but says nothing in reply.  Slowly, your vantage point begins to shift.  Soon, you are no longer watching from the sidelines, but instead you are seeing the scene from behind the eyes of the younger man.  As he speaks his next words, you have the weird sensation that these foreign words are coming out of your detached mouth.  "It is clear that I have the advantage, but I am tiring of the game."  "Your" gaze is drawn to the board where you see that there are indeed more black pieces than white.  Across the table, you see your opponents weathered face more clearly now as he seemingly acknowledges this imbalance without looking down at the board.  You can see in his eyes the acute awareness of his losses.  Even the best chess masters lose pieces, both pawns and greater pieces, through deliberate sacrifices and errors, but there is a pain in his visage that transcends that.  He looks as if he is about to speak when you hear the next words from inches below your line of sight.

"I have a proposition for you".  Having just heard these words yourself in the parking lot, you are starting to wonder if your new acquaintance is a car salesman or a greasy politician, but he continues.  "I am willing to cede the game to you if there is one among your creation who will take my deal".  The older man shifts his gaze from the table to your eyes and you can see that he too is tired of the game and there is an apparent opening for this concept.  When he speaks, his voice has a somewhat unnatural, but not unnerving timbre.  "And what is this deal of which you speak?" 

The younger man goes on to layout the deal.

Unending world peace will be granted if but one person, hereby referred to as the pariah, will accept the following conditions:

1. The world's new unity will be founded on their disdain for the pariah.  He or she will immediately find themselves the object of the population's residual hatred.  All relatives and loved ones will immediately turn on them and they will never hear another kind word or feel love from another person for the rest of their lives.
2. The pariah cannot take any medications or drug which will dull the effects of his condition.
3. The pariah will live to at least ninety five years of age and his or her life cannot be shortened by the pariah's own hand.
4. As long as the pariah works diligently, they will be able to afford the necessities, but they will live a pauper's life for the rest of their years.
5. The world will never know of the pariah's sacrifice on their behalf and he/she can never speak of it (Who would believe them if they did).
6. Once accepted, the deal is unbreakable.

While digesting the contents of this bargain, things begin to click into place and you realize that for any of this to make any sense you must be watching a conversation taking place between God and the Devil.  God furrows his brow and after an eternity, he nods his head solemnly and appears to agree to the Pariah Gambit.

In a stomach wrenching transition, you find yourself suddenly back in the parking lot with a slight itching sensation all over your body.  Your hand is no longer clenched in the strong handshake, but the man is still standing in front of you.  He explains that he and God had agreed to some additional terms and that he had been required to offer the deal to ten people as a test of humanity's progress.  You are, in fact, the tenth and final person to be asked, the previous nine having declined the deal.  You are advised not to make any rash immediate decision, but instead to take the rest of the day to think it over and to meet back in this parking lot in twenty four hours.  With that, you part company and spend the next twenty three and a half hours in alternating incredulity, denial, and sober thought.

Do you take the deal?  If not, you can stop reading here and skip to the part in red text at the end.  If you do take the deal, you show up in the parking lot the next day as directed.  You even park in the same spot.  By now your commitment is such that you wouldn't want to screw it up by not explicitly following directions. 

The Devil arrives right on time.  For all of his reputed faults, he is at least prompt.  He seems sincerely surprised to see you there and is taken aback at first.  Once he has gotten within customary speaking range he asks whether you are sure that this is what you want to do.  "Yes", you say and he takes your hand as if to seal the deal - except something else happens.

Suddenly you are back in the deserted park looking out through the Devil's eyes.  God is speaking now in his sombre voice.  "I have faith in the innate goodness of my creation.  While free will has allowed for many flaws and contagious outbreaks of immorality, they are basically good when faced with grave situations."  He clears his throat and the table shakes violently.  "Besides, the faithful would recognize that their eternal reward for such a sacrifice would far outweigh the finite suffering that would be inflicted upon them."

"Yes", says the Devil, apparently having anticipated this response.  "That does seem to stack the odds in your favor, if such a person does indeed exist.  Why don't we up the ante."

While the suffering of the pariah is guaranteed on Earth, his eternal disposition will be determined by the flip of a coin:

In either case, if the pariah accepts the deal, all other humans that have ever lived will have a heavenly eternity in the company of friends and loved ones (Including pets) and none will have to suffer eternal damnation.

1. If it is heads, the pariah will know rewards without measure and will be like unto a god him or herself.
2. If it is tails, the pariah will spend all eternity invisible, watching the happiness of others but without the ability to interact or participate.  In order to ensure that this suffering never ends, all memory of the pariah will be stricken even from the mind of God.

With a sickening lurch, you find yourself plopped back in the parking lot, once again itching profusely and wondering why.  A sly demeanor creeps across the Devil's face and his smile seems to spread a little too widely.  Having shared this additional information, he encourages you to spend another day reflecting on the implications.

The next twenty four hours seems a lot longer than the first and this forces you to imagine the concept of eternity.  You cannot really wrap your mind around this.  Do you accept the deal?  If you don't please skip to the section in red at the bottom of the story.  If you do accept, you find yourself back in the same parking lot the following day. 

As you mill about in the minutes before your meeting, you wonder if the parking lot cams are picking any of this up.  You wonder what security must be thinking as they see you and this stranger in the same spot for three consecutive days.  You find yourself suddenly self conscious.  Maybe they don't see the stranger and just figure that you are a crazy person with an outstretched hand who likes to talk to himself.  You are suddenly snapped out of this when the Devil arrives.  He seems even more surprised to see you today.  He reaches out to take your hand but today it seems like more of a formal greeting than "sealing the deal". 

It takes a couple seconds of hand to hand contact before you are back in the park.  It is apparent that you are picking up exactly where you left off yesterday.  You look down as you/the Devil take a coin from your pocket.  You spin it to show that it is a normal coin and not a trick.  The coin is flipped with a high trajectory and lands on the back of the Devil's hand with a smack that sounds like a rifle shock.  You want to squint your eyes, but the Devil never squints and you see what he sees.  It has landed on tails.

Do you still take the bargain?

One of the things that I enjoy about my job is the time that it gives me to think.  The other day I was reflecting on the concept of selflessness.  I like to think of myself as generous and kind and I would aspire to be selfless as well.  In order to aspire to it, I felt the need to really define it.  Dictionary.com defines selflessness as "having little or no concern for oneself especially with regard to fame, position, money, etc.; unselfish".  This was a little too abstract for me to wrap my head around, hence the "Pariah Gambit".  As it progresses, it transcends some of the ways that we may traditionally view this and ends in true selflessness.  Anyone who takes the full bargain would truly be able to give everything for others without expecting any karmic rewards.  I guess I have a long way to go!