Ambiguity

Down the stairs which leads to the second exit of a certain private high, there is a vending machine. While walking down said stairs Kyle looked at it intently. The vending machine resonating a calm blue light from the inside. If not for the shadow cast by the infrastructure above the light would've been lost to the slowly darkening orange sky.

Kyle took out two drinks from the machine, held them in his hands, and ran for the roof. As he predicted the roof door was slightly open, he slowly pushed it with his elbow and entered. It was only four stories high but due to the large field in the middle and no tall building near it, the sky was the sole proprietor in the view.

A man was leaning on the railing smoking a cigarette. He was looking at something forward. Hearing the noise of the door opening he looked back.
“Hey,” Kyle said. Shaking the drink in his hand to show him while walking towards him. “I bought root beer”.
The man gave a faint hint of a smile. Then turned back to his previous position.
“Shouldn't you be running home?”
“It's FRYDAY NIGHT! Not that I have any special plans. So here I am.”
“So I’m your only resort of amusement?”
“Yes? Look just take it ok.”
The man took the can of root beer in his hand. Kyle opened his can and leaned on the railing and looked forward just like his teacher beside him.

“Don’t you have any plans, Mr.Mikkelsen?” Kyle asked sipping on his drink.
“Not particularly no.”
“Don’t you teachers like go out drinking after work?”
“We do sometimes yes.”
“But not today of all days?”
“They all have plans. In that respect guess, I’m in the same boat as you Kyle”

Kyle wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that last line but he something told him not to venture there.

“Do you need something Kyle? You should ask and leave soon. If Miss Laura finds me here smoking near a student there will be hell to pay.”
“A good teacher would have stopped smoking if one of his students was near.” Payback Kyle thought. “A good teacher woudn’t smoke at all.”
Kyle felt Mikkelsen was a bit taken aback by his burst of attack but his face didn’t show it.
“Think about me for a second, would you? The only smoking area in this school is the teacher's office, but I can’t do it there with Laura breathing down my neck. So here I am outcasted, but you're here ruining even that.”
“Have you ever considered not smoking? It's bad for you”
“Now that doesn’t help me, does it? In fact, aren’t you the bad person for denying my rights to smoke by being here?” Kyle thought about it before he replied.
“I-uh.. I’m only asking you to do what's best for you. I can’t be the bad person because of that.”
“You're asking me to do what you ‘think’ is the best for me. Like an ill-knowledge mother.”
“….Look teach you and I both know the only reason it's legal to smoke is because of taxes. You’re simply being played by the government and in turn the corporations. As both the consumer AND the product.”
Kyle wasn’t sure if he explained that well but he knew it was enough to get his point through to him.

“Which in turn is helping the country I live in. Which in turn is helping everyone affected, maximiz-”
“Yah, yah utilitarianism. You taught me that. Damn, I thought I almost had you there.”
The man turned back to his usual position and opened his drink. Kyle could feel he was saying ‘not even close’ but he was sure it was just in his head.

“Well, it's better than what happened in Honk Kong I suppose,” Mikkelsen said sipping the drink.
“What happened in Honk Kong?”
“They banned smoking everyone except one's residence. You can imagine how tough that is.”
“Woudn’t that hurt the oh-so economy?”
“Of course it did somewhat. But then again, we humans are a strange lot. We are really good at adapting. People started to gather around near waste bins during breaks to smoke. In a strange way, it became a great place to socialize.”
“Huh. I’m pretty sure you can derive a pretty useless message from that. The hive-minded people and all. Like how even if we condemn evil we will still continue to be lead astray by it” Kyle nodded to himself, he surely got some extra credits for that.
“Sure. Yet one of my most favorite romance movie was based on that incident”
“Hmm.”
“It's a bit double-sided I suppose”

Kyle took a moment to think before he spoke again. He took a long sip and finished his can. He tried to crush it with his hand, he only was able to bend it a bit, and then he threw the can as hard as he could but it barely reached the field.

Mikkelsen gave him a sour look. Kyle gave a smile that said sorry and looked back at the can. The students running the tracks didn’t seem to notice the sudden loitering. The can was reflecting the orange tinge and gave a glow that he quite coudn’t put in words. He looked back at Mikkelsen to show it to him but stopped as he felt he was looking intently at something.

What was this man thinking? Ever since the day, the man introduced himself in class Kyle was deeply moved by the man's words, gestures, and overall presence. He was quite young and he dressed quite boorishly. Even now he was wearing a purple turtle neck and jeans. The exact boring clothes you would expect from an Ethics teacher but he had a good face that was enough to make him stand out even in that. If the man went out of his way and stopped following regulations so well he would turn a few necks for sure. But what really catches about him, which will make or break your initial impression of him, is his eyes. His always tired-looking eyes. The eyes that seem to say this man has been through a lot. Or at least that's the impression Kyle gets from him.

With those tired eyes, he was looking at something. Surely it was not something material which was right before him. He was a wise man, everyone who knows him as much as Kyle does has to agree on that. He has helped many of his students in various ways and the whole class would agree he was one the most helpful teacher there, even more than their guidance counselor. What was this man thinking so deeply? What was he ACTUALLY looking at? It must be something so profound that would be enough to occupy Kyle's mind for who knows how long. Kyle decided to ask breaking the man's deep thought.

“What are you looking at?” Kyle was proud of how he phrased that and the tone he asked it in. Without removing his gaze, Mikkelsen said,
“See that tree over there? With the skinny leaves that look like triangular stripes? I’m trying to remember the name of that tree.”
“……”

That's it? Kyle was unable to express his disappointment.

“Ah. You know, you could just search it on the web. You can take a picture and search based on that.”
“Oh don’t bother. It's not something that important.”

Was this man's head empty? or did he just had all the time in the world? Kyle rationalized then. It's just that this man had conducted six classes in a row for the whole day. Of course, he was giving his mind a much-needed rest, unlike Kyle who was simply goofing off. He was burdening the man with his own expectations. Kyle remembered having a class with that topic, though he could not remember very well.

“Is good and evil just that fickle? One person's good is another person's bad? Is it all that simple?” Kyle picked his thought back up from before.
“It's not that good and evil is fickle, is that our justice system is. My teachers' idea of good and my own idea of good is very different due to the generation gap. It will be the same for you and me. We are gradually learning”
“Are we always learning for the better?”
“That's another discussion entirely.”
The orange was slowly going red. The students on the field were slowly disappearing. It was an ominous mood.

“If that's how it is we will never reach an ideal state. No one is perfect, right? In the end, it will always just be better to be evil.” Kyle said with a strangely sudden distant tone. Reminding himself of a bitter memory.
“Humans by nature are good Kyle. Nietzsche said that. Mencius said that all humans are born fundamentally good.”Mikkelsen said looking at him.
“Oh yeah? That's why everything is all fucked. I've seen people do bad things for no reason. Nothing to gain from it.”
“Are you good Kyle?”
“I don’t know”
“What do you think should be done to these bad people?”
“The worst.” Kyle gave an instant reply.
“A good man is good to those who are good, he is also good to those who are not good, that is the virtue of good. Said Laozi. Both good, and bad, are good people Kyle.”
“So I’m the bad person here?”
“If you only wish bad for the bad person, you would only become another bad person who is bad to them. It will all delude and lead to nothing but chaos.”
“If I am bad for asking them all death. Then I’ll gladly be the bad person. It’s all chaos, right? All just random variables with no sets of rules or guides in the end. We are all just random protons crashing over nothing”
“You ignore one important fact. Evil is evil due to their circumstance. No one is born evil.”
“That doesn’t excuse what they to do others. If we rationalize all heinous acts with a sob story there will be no justice.”
“If your sense of justice is so strong Kyle. Then I ask for only one thing. That you be good. Good to the good, and good to the bad, for all humans are naturally virtuous.”

Kyle was a bit taken aback. He never thought of himself in that way, now that he thinks about it, he neither believes it as such.

“You know Teach. The theory of fundamental good? It's all fruitless idealism. I can’t be that good. No one can. It's a fad. A fake. ”
“Ideals can’t be in vain.”
“It is Teach. In the end, It's better to be a bad person than a good one. That's realism.”

Mikkelsen took a deep sigh. The ominous red was slowly turning dark. The deep darken blue sky was only getting darker. He looked at the changing scenario intently then he looked back at Kyle and spoke in a harsh tone.

“That can you just threw. Why did you do that? There is nothing to gain from it. It will only harm nature and in turn harm humans. But you did it anyway. Why? I’d wager you didn’t even do it deliberately. You didn’t even give it a thought. It was more like instincts.”
“…..” Kyle didn’t say anything. Unable to understand what he should say.

“Human nature is radically evil. Humans become ‘evil’ in order to achieve our selfish ends. Said Kant. Xunzi said the same, so did Arendt” Mikkelsen continued, “Evil is bland. Evil is trite. Can you even be considered human if all your actions are good?”

Kyle simply kept looking up at him.

“We humans live by seeking pleasure and removing displeasure correct?”

“…” Kyle nods agreeing.

“We grow eyebrows because it's unpleasant to get sweat in your eyes. It’s just natural for humans to be evil, to remove the displeasures of life, it's simply easier to be and do evil.”

Kyle silently nods. His face seemed all ran down. As if to say, that's it?

“We are naturally evil. Thus if a person does good, then that's not his true self. He’s simply making up a face. If a naturally evil being does good, then that's nothing but a lie. Thus all good in the world is hypocrisy, as we all intend evil.
If so, if one does a deliberate attempt to be good then he is nothing but a hypocrite.”

Kyle looks in begrudging eyes. He wasn’t unaware of course. But seeing the man who he had looked up to say such words, hurt him dearly. But he wasn’t ready to deny anything he said either. Mikkelsen sighed. It was getting colder and with a sudden gust of wind both of them felt a bit chilly. Mikkelsen gave a small laugh and continued,

“You know. Something you said reminded me of someone. A friend of mine in the uni circle I joined. He used to make imitation products and sold them at a lower price. It was a barely legal business. He used to ask, what is of greater value? The real thing or an indistinguishable fake? My response was naturally the authentic article. But he argued that the fake is of much more. In its genuine attempt to be real, it becomes more ‘real’ than the real thing.”

“……”

“What I’m saying is Kyle. Even if it is a fake like you said it is. I want you to pursue it. In a world where we are all Judas, people woudn’t mind another imposter, no?”

Kyle coudn’t but smile. There are things to be gained in defeat. Kyle yielded and yelled, “I will!” in a certain amount of confidence he wasn’t used to.
Mikkelsen smiled back.

“It's getting dark, we should head back.”
“Y-yes.”

Kyle walked ahead thinking all the way. Reaching the gate he held the door open, soon after Mikkelsen walked by.

“Ah, I remember now,” Mikkelsen announced.
“What?”
“The tree. It’s a rare kind of Quilver tree. Our school houses many rare breeds of trees you know.”
“Ah right.”

Kyle was down by the stairs when Mikkelsen held the door to close it.

“Mr.Mikkelsen”
“Yes?”
“That friend of yours, what does he do now?”
Mikkelsen gave a self-deprecating smile “He’s a swindler. A con man.” he said, closing the door.