Seeing Things in Color

Are Willie and Jack good or bad?
I see the world in color. No, this isn't a post about colorblindness or rainbows. It's just that discussing religion and God just naturally leads me to think of those moral books that were read to me every Sunday in Bible study. 
Is it right for Sally to tease Bob? Should Katie tell the teacher that she saw Michele eating someone else's lollipop?
These morals have been drilled into my head, and I doubt that I will ever forget them. Ever.
But having learned these morals, to me, seems to defeat the purpose of having morals. Don't get me wrong, it's not as if I condone theft and applaud bullying (I am adamantly against both those behaviors, actually). But whenever someone's morals are discussed, the definition of that word, moral, always seems to be an ethic or truth that is self-derived, but not always tangible or even visible. I have heard one too many stories of seemingly "good" people who committed heinous crimes. This doesn't mean that they had no morals or even lost them and became "bad." On the other hand, they could have had innate badness in them and have suppressed it long enough to commit the crime. 
In my view, there is no black and white. Only color. 


As today is Sunday, I made my weekly visit to church, where my preacher discussed God's plan. Quoting various Bible passages, he emphatically stated that God has a plan for each and every one of us; that every action we take, every person we meet, every scene that we experience all has a certain profound meaning that will someday materialize into a part of God's plan for our lives. Thinking of All the King's Men, I couldn't agree more. 
For some reason I keep going back to that spiderweb metaphor. Thinking about it. Referring to it. Thinking some more. It just resonates with me,and thinking about God's plan made me, unsurprisingly, think of the spiderweb. Just like God's plan, everything that happens to the spiderweb also has a consequence, a greater meaning. A nudge to the spiderweb will make it tremble, but not necessarily break it. Morning dew accumulating on the web will allow it to sparkle in the sun. A human crashing through it will break the beautiful masterpiece. 
In class the other day, we mentioned both Adam and Willie attempting to be God. To think like Him. To act like Him. But I don't think that either character could have ever attempted to be a God-like figure in any way. First of all, I think neither had a set plan. Both Jack and Willie lived their lives on the road--both literally and figuratively. Although it seems as if Willie knew where he wanted to be and what he wanted to do, he actually didn't. He got distracted easily. In my opinion, he ultimately failed. He had no plan. Jack seemed to meander through his life, not really making any choices for himself. 
In the end, both characters reveal that life is in color. There is no black and white. Willie was neither good nor bad. He outwardly exuded goodness in the beginning of his career, when he was perceived as naive, but by the time he had obtained his success, he was unable to keep his innocence. Jack, by blaming Willie for his deeds, tried to lift the blame off of himself, but in my opinion, incriminated himself more by doing so. He reconciles with his actions in the end, but he knows that he cannot change the past. No one can. I see things in color. There is no right, no wrong, just as Jack and Willie are both good and bad. As Willie said, you make the goodness out of the badness.