A friend of mine reproaches me for my naivete in imagining that dictators like Assad, Stalin, Hitler and the rest might have a conscience that would prevent them from sleeping.
Goodness knows, he may be right.
It’s common to imagine that people like this are monsters who are incapable of human feeling.
I’m not sure that helps us much. I’d rather imagine them to be human like the rest of us: capable of great evil but also, even if only in tiny ways, capable of kindness.
Maybe that’s just my vanity as a writer: I want to imagine that it’s possible to imagine what it would be like to be any human being, however evil they may be.
Which is why I’m very touched by this story of Herod having conversations with John in prison.
There’s definitely a play there: I’d love to imagine what they said to one another..
(Mark 6:16-20)
