Choosing Evil
I was watching a program on TV last night that displayed something I thought to be profound. It said, “No man chooses evil because it is evil, he only mistakes it for happiness.” Wow.
If we think about it, people don’t choose to do evil things because they want to do evil things. Someone doesn’t decide to be mean because they want to do mean things. They do these things because they think it will bring them joy or happiness.
This can be seen in all parts of the world nowadays. The rich don’t see themselves as doing mean things to those less fortunate. They see themselves bringing themselves joy by making more money, making themselves richer. After all, that money buys the things that make them happy.
They might not care for those that are less fortunate, but they don’t feel they are evil. In fact, I’ll bet they feel the same as those that don’t make as much. I’ll bet they feel that they are working hard to just get by.
But perception is everything. And perception is dependent on which end of the spectrum you are at.
What we need to do is find a way to change the perception of those doing evil to get them to see that there are other things that can make them happy, like helping others.
It is harder to fight evil, when those that are evil do not realize that they are. And aside from most James Bond villains, I feel most of them don’t. In fact, I could venture that the Nazis believed that they were not evil when they decided to ostracize the Jews. I’ll bet they thought they were doing what they needed to do to unify the country. Unfortunately, they unified it by creating a menace when there wasn’t one, and persecuting and murdering innocent people.
While I may not have an answer, or any answer to this issue, I found the quote interesting and thought provoking. And it might give us all a new perspective on why things are like they are, give us some thought on how to start making people realize happiness can come from many things, and to find other things to be happy about.