“The
Twilight Zone” was a popular TV series that aired from 1959 to
1964. It was hosted/narrated by its creator Rod Serling. The man
was a genius!! Sadly, he lived a very short life: 50 years. Rodman
Edward Serling (1924 – 1975). Even though this TV program only
lasted for 5 years, it left an indelible mark in the history of science fiction entertainment.
Anybody
who has watched this classic TV series probably has one particular
episode they remember. Some people say that the most popular episode
was the one titled “To Serve Man”. I don't know if it was
popular because of the content OR because of that creepy looking guy
with the funny-shaped head.
But
to me the most memorable episode was “The Rip Van Winkle Caper”. The moral
of the story was twofold:
(1)
One can plan for the future but one can not predict the future; and
(2)
Avarice and greed are probably timeless human characteristics.
Here's
the plot. These guys get together to steal gold. One of the guys is
a scientist. He tells his friends that they can steal the gold, and
evade the law enforcement authorities by getting into this time
capsule. They will go to sleep for several years, like Rip Van
Winkle, and when they wake up in the future, they won't have to worry
about going to jail for committing the crime. They reason that, in
the future, law enforcement won't be looking for them because it will
be assumed that they died many years ago. When they arrive in the
future, they reason that they are now free from being fugitives from
justice, and THEY'RE RICH! They can go to the secret place where
they hid the gold, divide up the gold amongst themselves, and start
living the good life! Right?
Uuuummm ... not
quite. Because even in the future, there is no honor among thieves.
They are still avaricious and greedy. They try to kill each other,
and only one of them survives the double-crossing and the betrayal.
That one who survived found himself with a lot of gold and in a hot
desert. No humans around for miles. And also … no water. By the
time he does see human beings, he tries to get help for himself,
offering to pay them in gold, however … he drops dead! The humans
who had stopped for him were confused by my his words and behavior.
The
humans remark to themselves: “He seemed to think that gold was
valuable.”
It
turns out that in the future, gold was worthless!! Humanity had
changed to the point where there was no need for gold. That was a
fact that the thieves had not even considered.
This
episode aired in April 1961. Out of all of the Twilight Zone
episodes I watched, that one made an impression on me and the life
lessons learned have stayed with me to this day.
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