Myth is scripture. Myth is wisdom. Myth is sacred story. Myth is magic and meaning. Myth defines and supports the goodness in us. It shows us a path, and as symbol—never underestimate symbols—myth is always true. Always.

As a public high school English teacher I was very respectful in using the word “myth.” I introduced it as a sacred story. However, like the authors of most every essay and study I have read, I did not address the obvious connection between the mythology of traditional cultures and the mythology of more modern ones. I was careful not to offend. I continued to be hopeful that others more powerfully placed will detail the parallels between Christian and other contemporaries mythologies and the ancient ones. They never do.

There is the “old wives’ tale” smear of mythology, as if the story your old grandmother told was a lie because it was not entirely factual. Or because it was told by an old woman. As if the decency and honesty rewarded in her story were not the point. As if she meant harm.

I used to hope that a few of my students, at least, might eventually see how Spider Grandmother and an archangel might share a place in the human pursuit for meaning. That they might appreciate how our connection to decency and fairness is not merely regulatory, but human and humane, a spiritual negotiation that allows us all to survive. Goodness as a universal truth. A Truth.

Most creation stories involve animals, plants, and failure. The Haida allow that Raven created the world mostly by accident. The Judeo-Christian tradition made the world on purpose, human beings on purpose, and death as a result of error. It matters to some people whether all or any of these stories are literally true. To others the message is significant enough. Do the right thing. Do right. All mythology works that way. Was it Atlas who carried the world on his back or a tortoise? Is the snake a symbol of evil or, by shedding skin, of rebirth?

It depends on who you ask.

The Story of Job warns against assuming we understand the why of events, but all mythology warns against doing what we know to be wrong, even when we do not understand why.

Societies pursue various goals and notions of virtue, but theft and murder and deceit are common evils. Generosity, compassion, and patience are nearly always admired and spiritually rewarded.

We are capable of knowing right from wrong. We are even capable of changing our minds about how we define those terms—which is much harder to manage. It is easier to stick with what we always thought before. Easier to not think, not weigh options, not reconsider what we think we know, not question good. Easier to assume evil is somewhere else far away. Evil as something outside and Other.

Strangely, like most life on earth, we will sacrifice ourselves for others. Human beings will do this, even sacrificing our safety and our lives for others. Wolves will do that too. Trees will pass over nutrition to a neighbor tree. Insects, fungus, single-celled life—all willing to die that their fellows may live. Altruism is not a rare virtue.

Sometimes we become so caught up in competition, in winning, and in hubris (our inflated self-importance) that we forget what we know to be true: we live together and we must get along in order to live virtuous lives.

Perfect innocence was never our destiny. We must constantly choose to do the right thing. Some humans creep about like Cain, hoping no one will notice who killed their brother. But there is no future in worrying continually, in fortifying ourselves against the Cains among us. How can that profit our lives? Surrendering to such fears makes cowards of us.

The vast majority of us are only doing the best we know how—to be good, generous, compassionate, and patient. We do this not only from fear of punishment. We do this not only when someone is watching. Sometimes we fail and bow to pride, selfishness, spite, and vengeance. Most often we do not. We do the right thing because we know it is right and we are comfortable with ourselves in doing what is right and good.

If we were more bad than good, no child would survive past the age of two. It would not be safe for me to say good morning to strangers on the beach. There would be no one risking censure to speak back to those in power. I see goodness everywhere, because even in our failings, most of us are trying our best to do good. Virtue is not Other.

We do the right thing because that goodness is in us.

The wives told.