Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion is often paraphrased as “For every force there is an equal, but opposite, force.”

Wow.  Newton’s third law of motion is also a paraphrase for life and death; and for good versus evil.

Somehow this past year has acquired a Wizard of Oz theme in an attempt to make light of the eternal battles of good versus evil.

About a year ago, my then team mate Karyn and I joked we needed the help of Glynda the Good Witch to overcome several Wicked Witches who were wreaking havoc over parts of the company (which for us at that time meant the Roaster).

Then, last summer and post-Roaster, there was sudden shift in leadership at my current company.

My first week there, the VP of my org abruptly announced she was leaving the company at the end of that week.

The second week, several recruiters decided to follow her.

The third week, there was a new face in the office, who introduced himself as our new VP.

During the following months, people continued to trickle out of the org, most by choice.  I and my immmediate teammates  became an island on the far side of the floor, ever wary of the junior staffing manager who was always on the prowl to expand his empire, whether or not it needed to be expanded.

And yet - we still had fun.  I was friends with several of my teammates before I joined the team – and became friends with the rest after I joined.  More than one of them nicknamed the junior staffing manager “the flying monkey;” and other current and former org members acquired monikers, also based on characters from the Wizard of Oz.

Throughout the months of turmoil and churn, the lines between good and evil seemed very clear. Sadly, my friends/teammates one by one left for new adventures, while I stayed on, working hard and hoping harder things would eventually improve.  And slowly, eventually, things did.  Good began to triumph over evil. The junior staffing manager “self selected” out of the company; as apparently did Splat!

Lately however, I’ve realized sometimes the lines between the two can become obscured.  Good and evil are not as separate or pure as I would like to believe, and often people – and their actions – are not as they first appear.  (“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,” said the Wizard of Oz…)

People can do good acts while being motivated by their own self interest; and others do horrible things under the banner of “being right.”  Symbolic imagery is everywhere: yin and yang; dark and light;  the Evil Empire and the Rebel Alliance.

My fondest memories from the Roaster are of my friends and fellow warriors within the Alliance.  But now I know when it is the Alliance members who migrate out first, they hand an easy victory to those they despise.   And – as we already know, it’s been a hard year for the Roaster…

Newton’s first law of motion is a physical body will remain at rest, or continue to move at a constant, unless a force acts upon it – as exemplified by me lounging on my couch while I write this post.

Tonight begins my experiment based on Newton’s third law of motion: I’m going to counteract every bad force with an equal good force. And – I will meet each good force with an equal good force.

That way, maybe I will finally be able to move things in the right direction.

“What lies before us and what lies behind us are small matters compared to what lies within us. And when we bring what is within us out into the world, miracles happen”  –  Ralph Waldo Emmerson