On some far tangent of the

imagination in a time that never was, Faith

went outdoors for a stroll. Not much

ground was covered before Faith met

Reality. The presence of Reality was

always a challenge to the confidence of

Faith. On this occasion, Faith decided

that attack might be the best form of

defence.

 

“You might as well face it,” said Faith,

“I have far more meaning than you. I am

comforting, virtuous and dependable,

while you are always changing, always

bothering people with doubt and ambiguity.”

 

“Virtuous and dependable,” exclaimed

Reality derisively, “at least those brave

enough to deal with doubt and ambiguity

can check their facts to make reasonable

choices. The folk who are addicted to all

your meaningful comfort can barely

recognise me when they crash right into

me, which they often do.”

“That only happens because you keep

getting in the way,” retorted Faith. “It’s

about time we had a decisive contest to

settle which one of us has the ascendancy,

once and for all.”

 

“Ascendancy.” laughed Reality,

“coming from you that’s a typical concept.

Not to mention this idea of ‘once and for

all’, you don’t hear me spouting about

‘once and for all’.”

 

“You hardly could,” sneered Faith,

“changeable as you are.” So the two of

them argued back and forth, but before

they could agree on the type of contest to

test each other’s strength, nature

intervened. The sun came out and Reality

began to melt into a puddle. Faith,

incoherent at the best of times, went into a

complete vapour and never quite got it

together again.

 

If such an unlikely tale has any moral at

all it might be this…

When faith evaporates, reality may

seem to have changed a lot, but at least it

is still there for us.

By Karen Joyce