The Absolutes of Evil

We as a people, are obsessed with evil. We find the dark and the macabre much more interesting than the bright and sunny. Crime dramas are among the most popular television shows, and often involve grisly and twisted murders. I know people who love mystery novels, which almost exclusively involve someone being killed, but I don't know too many people who love books where the characters only give money to charity and volunteer at a school.

When I think about this subject, it reminds me of a joke I heard once on Saturday Night Live. "If you paint one painting, you're not a painter. You bake one cake, and you're not a baker. But you blow up one embassy and suddenly you're a terrorist."

The problem here is, this isn't a joke. It's true. At least, true in the eyes of society at large. This is how we as a people feel about things. And to make matters worse, I agree with it. Well, at least as much as one can agree with something they don't fully understand.

Why is it that bad things are considered absolute, but good things are regarded as fleeting at best?

Consider, a person who is the epitome of human greatness. An intelligent, caring person. A doctor, someone who volunteers at a homeless shelter. A person who donates to cancer research and the food bank. Someone who stops their car when they see someone broken down at the side of the road.

And this person has been doing this for, oh, say fifty years. Well regarded in the community, goes to church on Sunday, etc. And suddenly, one day when he's seventy, he intentionally murders a four year old girl.

This dude is going straight to jail. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Done. And rightly so. You don't kill people. It's one of the most terrible things you can do. Keep in mind, I fully agree that murderers deserve the maximum amount of punishment our laws allow.

I do, however, find it interesting that this one act, terrible though it may be, can erase all the good this person has done over the course of their life. This man will forever be known as a murderer. Nevermind that he was a loving husband and father. No matter that he saved hundreds of lives. So what if he was a devout religious man? His act of taking a life negates all the good he has done in his life.

But it doesn't work the other way. A person who lives a life of stealing, cheating, raping and murdering cannot be vindicated by a single act of good, regardless as to how powerful. Nor even by a lifetime of good, as seen in the previous example.

It's interesting how absolute and lasting evil is. An evil act will always trump any number of good deeds. An incident where someone wrongs you will stay with you longer than an incident where someone was kind.

Something to think about.