Quotations Sunday: Evil

I read this quote on face book recently and it instantly summed up my belief on Evil and its relationship with human beings.

All Harry Potter nerds will be delighted to see (I believe it is Sirius Black?) starring in the photo and however much you may wish to kill me for admitting this, I cannot quite recall where this line featured in the series but I completely agree with it. I don't believe in 'evil', the term given to something or someone who is rotten to the core, no goodness in them whatsoever and as the quote says "a bad person". I wholeheartedly believe that any negative traits a person possesses or any terrible acts they perform are derived from bad things happening in their lives. It may seem very idealistic and naive but that doesn't mean its not true. People are very quick to judge people by their surface and label them bad or evil( I know I have in the past) and if they don't use those exact terms they call them something like a "bitch" or an "asshole". This is a very simplistic view of a human being. You couldn't possibly have a clue of what has gone on in their lives to make them who they are today. Even if they do asshole-ish things or say something bitchy it doesn't mean you can label them that term. I don't know why it is all of ours' natural instincts to become angry by someone having problems in their lives, mine included, but I feel like pity would be more fitting, don't you think?

The main reason I came to the conclusion that evil doesn't exist is because every time I would slam the door after a fight with a family member or say something mean to someone, I knew in myself that the source of these 'bad' acts was hurt. I knew well that I wasn't a bad person or evil, I was just hurt within myself and wasn't strong or secure enough to hold my temper. And while you can argue that serial killers and the like did much more catastrophic things I remain adamant that they are not evil people. Everyone's mind is made of different material strengths, some have theirs made of the most delicate tissue paper which can be destroyed unbelievably easily to a point where it is messed up and its previous beauty is unrecognisable. Others are made of stronger stuff who can handle frequent attack. As weird an analogy as that was I think it sums up what I'm trying to say well. You don't know whats going on inside someone's mind, remember all you get is their behaviour and we all know that is not always an accurate reflection of our internal thoughts and feelings. 

Going back to the quote, I love how simple but effective it is. It is so comforting and reassuring and I feel like  its approach is a lot more powerful than becoming aggressive at someone's 'evil' appearance. If you think about it, the worst thing we can tell people who have done awful things is that they are bad people because that steals any hope for change within them. If we can allow them to believe that they are good people and have the capabilities to match their behaviour, then they can take the steps towards improvement and happiness. So I hope we can all agree that not only is the message of this quote great but also the way its put creates a huge impact.

I feel like a lot of people will disagree with this blog post because labelling someone as "evil" or "bad" is very common. This is just an inability to look further into the person and a fear too, however "nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood". If only we could attempt to understand people a little bit better, if only we had the patience and the courage then the world truly would be a better place. 

 In future, make sure you're not so quick to call someone evil or bad because people will call you those things throughout the course of your life and you know in yourself that you're not. Don't you? Well, what's the difference for other individuals? Its all just a case of levels. 

What do you think of this week's quote? Do you believe in evil?

Love,

Rachel=)