corrigible
[ kawr-i-juh-buh l, kor- ]
adjective
1. capable of being corrected or reformed: a corrigible criminal.
2. submissive to correction.
3. subject to being revised, improved, or made more accurate: a corrigible theory.
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The man
was unconscious. Even the untrained eyes
of those around him could tell that much.
He lay, eyes closed, barely breathing, unmoving. A trickle of blood oozed down his forehead
and around his eyes.
“So,
what should we do with him?” One of the observers asked.
“What do
you mean, what? He’s a murderer. We cut his head off and leave his body to
rot.” Another said.
“He’s got
a bounty on him.” Said the third. That
made the other two pay very close attention.
“Pretty big one, too. We tie him
up, bring him in and get paid.”
“We can
still kill him.” Said the second man. “That
bounty’s dead or alive, right?”
The third
man shrugged his thick shoulders.
“What
would the authorities do when we bring him in?” Asked the first man.
“Probably
hang him.” Said the third. “That’s why we
should bring him in. He’s going to die anyway;
we might as well get something out of it.”
The trio
looked at the unconscious criminal.
“I think
we should take him with us.” Said the first.
“What? No, that’s a terrible idea.” The second said
forcefully.
“No, it’s
not. We can try and rehabilitate
him. Reform him. You know, make him good.”
The
other two were silent. The second man
let out a low grumble and crossed his wiry arms.
“That’s
the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. You
think he’s going to just sit there and listen to you talk about virtue and
honesty and all that? You think a career
criminal will actually pay attention enough to see the error of his ways or
some such?”
“He
might. You never know until you try.”
“Won’t
work.” The third man said. “That’s what
prisons are for. Doesn’t work well
there. And we don’t have what it takes
to do that stuff anyway.”
“There,
you see? A voice of reason.” The second
man huffed.
“I want
to at least try before we condemn him to death.”
“Why?”
“Because
if we can change someone like this, then imagine what else we can do? We can strive to eliminate crime, not by
killing those who commit them, but by making them not want to commit more
crimes.”
“Wouldn’t
work.” The third man said. “You might get
a few, but not all. And they’d still
have to commit a crime to start. Wouldn’t
end crime, just slow it down a little.”
“Exactly.”
Said the second man.
The first
man sighed. He wondered if he could get
through to them. Make them see how well
his idea would work. He just needed them
to give it a try.
“How
about this.” He said. “We take him with
us, and give it, say, a month. Now, even
I know he won’t be cured that quickly, but if there’s any improvement then we
see it through to the end.”
“No.”
Both of the other men said at once.
“But…”
“No
buts.” The second man said. “We’re not
letting a murder into our house, no matter what the reason is. I’m not risking our necks on the off chance
he’s willing to change. Come on, let’s
tie him up and bring him in. That bounty
is calling.”
As the
second and third men got to work, the first was deep in thought. He knew he was right. He knew he could make people change. He just needed to get the others in on it
first. And then they would see just what
a little change could lead to.
*********************************
That's not sinister at all. Yup, I'm sure that whatever happens will turn out wonderfully for all involved. No chance of anyone going full supervillain in order to show the world. Nope, no chance at all...
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