Yes, everyone's talking about it; everyone's trying to figure out why, and some talking heads will sanctimoniously come up with one answer or another, and ponderously tell everyone that there is an answer, and that they have it.
They don't. Because the only answer is - there is Evil.
Most people shy away from this, just as they shy away from talking or even thinking about God or the fact that their lives are mere fleeting seconds in time and space, not the important and world-changing events that they believe them to be. They deny Evil, try to explain it, try to pretend it is something it is not, try to insist that there is an explanation for it, that cause equals effect, that it's about science or medication or even the chemical composition of some peoples' brains. It is none of these things.
They want to deny the creeping and resolute surge of Evil in their own families, neighborhoods, and communities. They want to blame GMO foods, the hapless weapons used to perpetrate the Evil, the social strata of the criminal or victims, even the very water and air that sustains them. They are all wrong. Like people insisting that they are going to ride out the next hurricane in their own homes, they wrap their arms about each other as the storm surge rises, higher and higher, and demand or plead for help that will not, can not, come.
I know Evil. I have seen its face, looked into its dark, dead eyes, and felt its icy presence even when it smiled and laughed and tried to behave under a facade of normalcy. I have seen it in the eyes of the man who has killed, without justification or remorse, in the eyes of the woman who has bludgeoned her own children or swapped her teenage daughters' innocence for drugs or favors. I have seen it in the smiling politician's face who has promised everyone everything they could ever possibly want, with that smirk in the corner of his mouth at the gullible stupidity of the masses who believe in him. I have seen it in the early morning light, when accosted by four men who thought that I was a helpless woman alone and open to their predation. I have seen it in the dark of night when three men tried to beat down my door, thinking that, through their size, force, and power, they could pursue their own pleasures. Both of those latter times, what stopped them was the barrel of a gun shoved in their faces, and the cool stare of determination that dared them, "one step further". I did not know what they wanted, nor did I care. I knew what I wanted - and it was to survive, preferably unscathed. I did so.
Because, you see, Evil is only afraid of one thing - a bigger, more determined, and adamant faith. Evil believes in its own righteousness, its own ends, and only when faced down by someone who can - and determinedly will - put a stop to them, does it back down. To prey, Evil must have prey. To fight Evil, one must determine to - not be prey. Not plead for help or succor from others. Not try to legislate or preach against it. Not try to turn it back to good, or educate it, or psychoanalyze it. Not try to deny its existence or pretend that it will never encroach, because we are richer, smarter, better, and kinder than others. Evil is visceral, as one's reactions to it must be.
Long ago, my father taught me to always be at "code yellow", alert and aware of everything around me. The guy walking between the parked cars at a shopping mall, the glow of concentration deep-set in someone's eyes in a crowd, the hiss of a snake's belly sliding through the leaves; anything curious, out-of-the-ordinary, unusual. Folks pooh-pooh this, say it is living in fear. It is not. It is living in awareness, living life to the fullest, yet being always aware that there is Evil out there, that it waits to pounce, that it awaits weakness and fragility and helplessness as its encouragement to overtake, overcome, and even kill - without compunction, without remorse, without any emotion other than self-gratification.
Those who deny Evil's existence, those who believe that Evil can be ignored, legislated against, calmed, changed, or brought into the light are fodder for the further perpetration of Evil. It is they who permit Evil to grow, to flourish. By their denying that there are snakes living under their porch, allowing them to breed and perpetrate, unheeded and unmolested, they ignorantly and yet wholeheartedly permit Evil to flourish. Sooner or later their home becomes a den of snakes, and there is nowhere for them to go; nowhere the snakes have not infiltrated.
The battle between Good and Evil is not coming, it is already here - and those who choose to excuse it, placate it, or deny its existence will be its willing, hapless victims - or encourage it to take more and more innocents as its sustenance. Evil voraciously feeds on the innocent babes that ignorance and denial throw to It, to save their own sensibilities and protect their own hapless, mindless belief that "everything will be all right".
They don't. Because the only answer is - there is Evil.
Most people shy away from this, just as they shy away from talking or even thinking about God or the fact that their lives are mere fleeting seconds in time and space, not the important and world-changing events that they believe them to be. They deny Evil, try to explain it, try to pretend it is something it is not, try to insist that there is an explanation for it, that cause equals effect, that it's about science or medication or even the chemical composition of some peoples' brains. It is none of these things.
They want to deny the creeping and resolute surge of Evil in their own families, neighborhoods, and communities. They want to blame GMO foods, the hapless weapons used to perpetrate the Evil, the social strata of the criminal or victims, even the very water and air that sustains them. They are all wrong. Like people insisting that they are going to ride out the next hurricane in their own homes, they wrap their arms about each other as the storm surge rises, higher and higher, and demand or plead for help that will not, can not, come.
I know Evil. I have seen its face, looked into its dark, dead eyes, and felt its icy presence even when it smiled and laughed and tried to behave under a facade of normalcy. I have seen it in the eyes of the man who has killed, without justification or remorse, in the eyes of the woman who has bludgeoned her own children or swapped her teenage daughters' innocence for drugs or favors. I have seen it in the smiling politician's face who has promised everyone everything they could ever possibly want, with that smirk in the corner of his mouth at the gullible stupidity of the masses who believe in him. I have seen it in the early morning light, when accosted by four men who thought that I was a helpless woman alone and open to their predation. I have seen it in the dark of night when three men tried to beat down my door, thinking that, through their size, force, and power, they could pursue their own pleasures. Both of those latter times, what stopped them was the barrel of a gun shoved in their faces, and the cool stare of determination that dared them, "one step further". I did not know what they wanted, nor did I care. I knew what I wanted - and it was to survive, preferably unscathed. I did so.
Because, you see, Evil is only afraid of one thing - a bigger, more determined, and adamant faith. Evil believes in its own righteousness, its own ends, and only when faced down by someone who can - and determinedly will - put a stop to them, does it back down. To prey, Evil must have prey. To fight Evil, one must determine to - not be prey. Not plead for help or succor from others. Not try to legislate or preach against it. Not try to turn it back to good, or educate it, or psychoanalyze it. Not try to deny its existence or pretend that it will never encroach, because we are richer, smarter, better, and kinder than others. Evil is visceral, as one's reactions to it must be.
Long ago, my father taught me to always be at "code yellow", alert and aware of everything around me. The guy walking between the parked cars at a shopping mall, the glow of concentration deep-set in someone's eyes in a crowd, the hiss of a snake's belly sliding through the leaves; anything curious, out-of-the-ordinary, unusual. Folks pooh-pooh this, say it is living in fear. It is not. It is living in awareness, living life to the fullest, yet being always aware that there is Evil out there, that it waits to pounce, that it awaits weakness and fragility and helplessness as its encouragement to overtake, overcome, and even kill - without compunction, without remorse, without any emotion other than self-gratification.
Those who deny Evil's existence, those who believe that Evil can be ignored, legislated against, calmed, changed, or brought into the light are fodder for the further perpetration of Evil. It is they who permit Evil to grow, to flourish. By their denying that there are snakes living under their porch, allowing them to breed and perpetrate, unheeded and unmolested, they ignorantly and yet wholeheartedly permit Evil to flourish. Sooner or later their home becomes a den of snakes, and there is nowhere for them to go; nowhere the snakes have not infiltrated.
The battle between Good and Evil is not coming, it is already here - and those who choose to excuse it, placate it, or deny its existence will be its willing, hapless victims - or encourage it to take more and more innocents as its sustenance. Evil voraciously feeds on the innocent babes that ignorance and denial throw to It, to save their own sensibilities and protect their own hapless, mindless belief that "everything will be all right".
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