Evil Days

Evil, runnin` through our brain,
we and evil`s about the same.

--Evil, Earth, Wind and Fire

The next few days will be the anniversaries/remembrances of several events that will “live in infamy:”

The Holocaust

The Oklahoma City Bombing

The birth of Adolph Hitler

The Columbine Massacre

What to say? Nothing, except to acknowledge that evil exists. The real question remains: what to do? How do humans beings not taken by evil oppose it? I humbly submit two general methods: 1) keep watch for it, in ourselves as well as in others and 2) once evil is exposed for what it is, don’t minimize it, kowtow to it, euphemize it or appease it. (Okay, that’s more than two.) Try any of the latter and evil will only devour you and those you love in the end. Seek it out and bring justice to it, if necessary. The Israelis (and their immediate ancestors) have learned this the hard way.

What's the point in having these “celebrations” of evil if no one learns from them? Bowing our heads in sorrow and remembering the innocent Fallen is noble and necessary, but if—after we raise our heads and dry our tears--we don’t do something to stop the purveyors of evil, then what the flock is the point?

Oppose evil or at least get out of the way of those who are doing so. Is that too much to ask?

Comments

[teal marie]

Not too much to ask.
I'm not a soldier, I dont have the courage or the discipline required.
Evil is scary, confronting it is dangerous. I had to stop a tweeker bitch from beating her son with a belt. I was scared half to death, but so angry it didnt matter. He ran to me, a stranger, for protection. She snatched him away and they drove off. I got the license at least, and reported to the police and child protection services. I was upset for a damn week! Afraid the child was getting beaten where no one could stop it.
But, about a month later, this child's grandmother sought me out, to thank me for getting him and his sister away from his evil mother and into a decent Christian foster home. She thanked me! I NEVER expected that.
Let me take this opportunity to thank you, Juliette, and all who have served to protect us from evil. And to all who are serving now, and all the ones who will serve in the future, Thank you for your courage. I love you for it.

[Dwayne]

Right on!

Juliette Ochieng ... a beautiful name. By chance are you related to a Barrack Ochieng? He's a former co-worker I knew, and he was from Kenya.

Probably not.

I like your site and I especially like your opinions!

[torchy]

We used to celebrate Patriots Day, April 19th (OKC bombing)in Massachusetts before it fell out of public favor. Now I remember to celebrate it when the OKC bombing is commemorated. Is that fitting or are the two events hopelessly at odds? Though we should remind ourselves of the evil that elements of humanity are capable of perpetrating upon the rest that remembrance shouldn't supplant all others. Even funerals are meant to remember the dead as well as comfort the survivors. The waters get muddied with collective remembrances depending on what politics you apply to the event, whether you, your family or friends were directly affected by the events, etc. Hopefully our waking hours with a clear discernment of good and evil, and like teal marie, we engage and fight the little creeping evils that surround us daily. As a former GI I'd also like to thank teal marie for her appreciation, it means more than you may know, and offer her mine. As an American I thank you for allowing me the privelege to serve my country and in all my days serving this great country I probably never did anything as brave as what you did to rescue those children from abuse, you deserve a heroes medal, God bless you and thank you.

[Cricket]

Thank you. exactly. Oppose evil or get out of the way of those who are opposing it.

I have been in here a time or two and have really enjoyed my visits.
Time to bookmark.

[Conibear Trapp]

I agree with you completely. However, many will never get out of the way of those opposing evil because they do not understand which side is evil. For them, the US is the evil oppressor in Iraq. Therefore, by protesting US actions there, they are the ones who are actually opposing evil. Somehow, they need to have their eyes opened to truth.

[ambra]

Exactly Conibear. About 60% of the problem is people actually being able to recognize evil for what it is. Evil isn't just Gargamoil on the Smurfs. It's internal not external, and anyone, no matter how many degrees or socioeconomic status can become a tool of it. Evil can't be psychologically profiled, predicted or understood; at least not from an intellectual standpoint. Evil is the presence of something that opposes what's good and what's right. Now if people could only figure out what was "right" and stop tightrope-walking on these blurred lines of morality, we might go somewhere as a nation.

[La Shawn Barber]

I saw a documentary last week about children of the Holocaust. Some Jewish children got out of German-occupied countries just in time. Parents had to ship their kids out of the country to strangers just to keep them safe. Sometimes they were reunited, sometimes that weren't. The atrocity of the Nazi regime has no equal in our time.

[Jim]

LaShawn,

The Nazi regime was certainly evil, but I would argue that Josef Stalin's regime was at least its equal - twice as many people killed.

[Mike Boelter]

Stalin got better press coverage and help from willing dupes at places like the New York times. Just the same way that Saddam Hussein got a free pass on some of his 'excessess' by CNN so they could remain in the loop and still have news teams in the country.

Very true words are the ones that go something like this: For Evil to triumph it only requires good to remain silent (or inactive, or not take action).

Even after 911 it is a policy to not question any more than two person of Arabic or Middle Eastern descent so as not to raise the hue and cry of 'racial profiling'. Despite the fact that in the case of most terrorism currently taking place in the world, persons of Middle Eastern descent is less racial profiling, than a description of the usual suspects.

[Donna]

I believe it's because a lot of people don't want to leave their comfortable settings and few people like confrontation...I remember having my life threatened by a man who also threw a super gulp all over me during a peaceful pro-life march. He was screaming and I remained very quiet. He said he was looking for his gun when his girlfriend sped off. Afterwards I began shaking and cried...cried because it hurt to see so much hate in someone. He may have been hurting so I won't call him evil but rage turns into hate and hate causes suffering. Didn't Yoda say something similar?

[David Ross]

Today is also the "[Pot] Smokers' New Year", aka "four-twenty".

[Rae]

Juliette- who was it that said, mocking The Evil One, "The greatest accomplishment is that I have convinced people that evil is good and that good is evil" ?

I many times remind myself that while there is nothing new under the sun, there is plenty new to me.

[Dylan]

Who gets to decide what's evil?

[baldilocks]

Dylan,

The God of the Bible. Ever heard of "Thou shall not murder?"

[Gary and the Samoyeds]

To continue the litany of evil, 22 April is Lenin's birthday. The founder of Earth Day explicitly chose that date.

[Da Goddess]

You never cease to amaze me with the power of your words.