Moral Principle vs. Material Interest

Title: The Moral Principle And The Material Interest
Author: Ambrose Bierce

A Moral Principle met a Material Interest on a bridge wide enough for but one.

"Down, you base thing!" thundered the Moral Principle, "and let me pass over you!"

The Material Interest merely looked in the other's eyes without saying anything.

"Ah," said the Moral Principle, hesitatingly, "let us draw lots to see which shall retire till the other has crossed."

The Material Interest maintained an unbroken silence and an unwavering stare.

"In order to avoid a conflict," the Moral Principle resumed, somewhat uneasily, "I shall myself lie down and let you walk over me."

Then the Material Interest found a tongue, and by a strange coincidence it was its own tongue. "I don't think you are very good walking," it said. "I am a little particular about what I have underfoot. Suppose you get off into the water."

It occurred that way.

Source of Story: Read Book Online

But the story would have been different had both of them been in the bridge as shown hereunder.

This is China's Jiaozhou Bay Bridge, 26 miles long and inaugurated June 30, 2011 and  is now the World's Longest Bridge. It took four-and-a-half years to build the bridge. The bridge took the "world's longest" title from the 38.35 kilometer Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in the United States.

Source of Information/images: International Business Times - July 6, 2011