What is Good?

The year was 1999.

A guy was walking along the road near his vacation house in Maine.

And a van came down on the shoulder of the road.

He didn't see it until the last possible second, came over the hill.

And there was a collision, an accident, and he was very seriously injured.

Spent a couple months in the hospital.

It was Stephen King, the horror writer Stephen King.

And I don't know if you remember the story, but he was, it was touch and go for a while, and they didn't know if he was going to survive.

And he did survive.

And he had some interesting stories that some of the people who were taking care of him were true heroes.

And some of the characters who were taking care of him could have come out of one of his horror novels, especially the one Misery.

Stephen King has referred to his life since that day in the summer of 1999 as the bonus round.

And the reason is he knows that he could have died.

It could have all been over then.

And everything since then has been a gift.

And he's using that as a reminder of the gift that it is.

At that point, in 1999, he had written 47 books.

In the intervening time, he's written 45 more.

Bonus round.

So when something good happens, you just say, oh, that was good, and you move along.

Or do you say, wow, I now have a gift.

This is a treasure that I can then do something with.

Does our perspective on good change? Would Stephen King describe getting hit by the van as good? Probably not.

Probably not.

It's part of his story.