The other
day, Colleen asked me how I define evil. My reply was that I don’t, because
evil implies someone who does harm through malicious intent. I feel that most
people who cause harm do so unintentionally – or, at the very least, think they
have the best intentions.
It did get
me thinking, though. If I really had to define evil, how would I do it? What
causes people to cause harm?
Greed was
what I came up with first. Greed for wealth or greed for power or greed for
anything, really. That’s where evil, if it truly exists, is most visible. It
causes people to stockpile money, harming the economy by making less money
available to go around. It causes politicians to lie so they can get elected.
It starts wars over land or resources. Almost all evil can be linked back to
greed.
Yet, even
most of those people don’t view themselves as evil. They feel they’re doing
what they must, or perhaps what everyone else is doing.
That got my
mind on the track of how people can cause so much harm and either be unaware or
think it’s okay. It brought me to the essence of what motivates people: what
they believe. Someone who lives on the streets and must steal to survive might
view those who do not help them as evil, and would they be wrong? Is it not
more evil to allow someone to starve to death than to help them survive? At the
same time, the people being stolen from would view the thief as evil, and would
they be wrong? After all, stealing to
feed oneself without concern for those being harmed is more evil than choosing
to starve to death.
Both sides
have merit, yet neither will budge from their positions. Their views and
beliefs are set in stone. They each know with certainty that they are good, and
the other is evil.
So it was
that I arrived at the best definition of evil I could come up with.
All it
takes to be evil is to believe you are right and that there is no possibility
you are wrong.
If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.
