Jim shook his head. "You misheard me," he said. "I said the value of compassion. I also said that it mattered more to me that I believed in decency than it being true. I believe that I bring more good into this world by believing it to be possible. Not because I make it so by thought alone, but because I, as a person, can't function if I believe there's nothing to be done about the evil I see.

"That doesn't mean I'm blind to the fact that not everyone is good. That not everyone means well. Do you think I'd be alive, be where I am today, if I went traipsing through the universe thinking no one ever meant me any harm? My point is that if I stop believing that we're capable of doing better, I lose something essential in me. My belief that I can make things better. My belief that people can change--not everyone, and maybe not enough. But I need to believe in something, even if intellectually I know it's not always true, so I can work towards making it true. 'Maddest of all--to see life as it is, and not as it should be.'"

He sighed.

"Would it help, Jim? For me to tell you about... him?"