Your Worst Enemy... Yourself

The story Monsters are Due on Maple Street by Rod Serling has a clear message at its end. Two figures from outer space destroy the residents of Maple Street, and not with bombs or weapons, the residents destroyed themselves. The figures had turned off everything, and the people who lived in Maple Street blamed everyone because they did not know who could do this. The message of the story is that your worst enemy is yourself. If something bad happens to people, and they don't know really what happen, the first thing they do is find a scapegoat. Everyone starts blaming each other; the result will be a world without friendship, only with prejudices and suspicion. People don't search the really guilty people; they search the first men they can blame.

Even though this message was written back in the 1960's, it still has very significant words. Today, we are in a world full of prejudices and suspicion, everyone searches for a scapegoat. I think that this message is important because we could work together instead of fighting for no reason. It is true that your worst enemy is yourself because when you eat bad things, blame other people, and say lies, you hurt your self, physically and mentally. If people like Hitler and Osama Bin Laden would have in mind this message, many people would not have died, and prejudices would not be existing. This message would be really useful if something bad happens like what happened in the Twin Towers, or any other terrorist attack.

If the story “Monsters are Due on Maple Street” was written today, some little details would have changed. If the blackout would occur these days, some things that would be damaged could be mp3's, cars, lights, portable video games, digital clocks, computers, cell phones, and air conditioners. Some changes for the story to be more adaptable to today's audience would be that instead of the ham radio, they could use an iPod. The writer could write in the story that the aliens come from another galaxy or specifically from a planet in our solar system, for example, Jupiter's moon may have aliens. Today, the place where something like this happened would not be as horrified as in the story, they would be more prepared and instead of blaming themselves they would blame the local electricity factory.