Some one once said: "It's not always that easy to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys. Sinners can suprise you and the same is true for saints. Why do we try to define people as simply good or evil? Because no one wants to admit that compassion and cruelty can live side by side in one heart. And that anyone is capable of anything." Which is true, I remember one particular English Literature class that stuck in my brain. It was a poem by Chinua Achebe called Vultures. This is the poem:
"In the greyness and drizzle of one despondent
dawn unstirred by harbingers of sunbreak a vulture
perching high on broken bone of a dead tree
nestled close to his mate his smooth
bashed- in head, a pebble on a stem rooted in
a dump of gross feathers, inclinded affectionately
to hers. Yesterday they picked the eyes of a swollen
corpse in a water-logged
trench and ate the things in its bowel. Full
gorged they chose their roost
keeping the hollowed remnant
in easy range of cold
telescopic eyes...
Strange indeed how love in other
ways so particular
will pick a corner
in that charnel-house
tidy it and coil up there, perhaps
even fall asleep - her face
turned to the wall!
Thus the commandant at belsen
camp going home for
the day with fumes of
human roast clinging
rebelliously to his hairy
nostrils will stop
at the wayside sweet-shop
and pick up a chocolate
for his tender offspring
waiting at home for daddy's return
Praise bounteous
providence if you will
that grants even an ogre
a tiny glow-worm
tenderness encapsulated
in icy caverns of a cruel
heart or else despair
for in every germ
of that kindred love is
lodged the perpetuity
of evil"
The section in bold is what stuck to my memory. You see the commandant was a Nazi soilder, who spent all day gassing innocent men, women and children in the gas chambers of a concentration camp, but on his way home he'd stop and pick up a bar of chocolate for his child. Now thats good and evil living side by side in one person. Which brings me to believe that no one person is purely evil. Even if their soul is tortured and they seem to be pure evil there will be some goodness inside them, wether it be saving a snail from a certain death by simply stepping over it or looking after their mother. No one is purely good and no one is purely evil. People who seem to be saints can be sinners. I know for one I am not perfect and I have done things I am not proud of, but the things we do help make us who we are now. And for that reason alone I shall never regret anything I have done or that I choose to do in the future because without it I wouldnt be who I am right now or who I may become in the future.
Hmm, I wonder if Hitler ever felt remorse or sadness for what he was doing to innocent people. Did he know that in the year 2009 that he would be considered the terrorist of his time. All because of a religion? A religion doesnt make a person, its just a part of a person, I dont get why people cant live side by side, believing what they believe. Why should someone die because he doesnt chant to a God or because he calls God by a different name? Its rediculous. Its and excuse to kill people without remorse or empathy, yet if it happened to the terrorists family they wouldnt be happy! They wouldnt rejoyce in the name of God. Sorry, I'm off track now. Getting back to the subjet matter. I wonder if Hitler had been able to look through a jewish persons eyes, would he have stopped? If he could have taken Anne Franks shoes and walked a mile, would he have empathy or sympthy but still continue on to his vision of a better Germany? The way I see it is, as long as there is power and fools who crave it, there will always be war, murder and destruction. What I cant help but wonder is, if your not enough with out it, you'll never be enough with it. Think about that for a second.
I also wonder if Mother Teresa had a bad part to her. I know she was a great women who devoted her life to helping other people. But sometimes I wonder if there was anything about her that wasnt as pure. I wonder if she saw Hitler hanging on a cliff and inch within falling to his death, would she offer him a hand? Personally I think she would have helped him. She once said; "In this life we can not do great things, we can only do small things with great love". So I find that if I smile at someone on the street, its like a link of love. A smile is something that can brighten anyones day, even if its from someone you dont know. Mother Teresa didnt preach but taught by doing. Her actions will live on and be forever remembered. She set an example. Which remind me of another saying; "People judge you by your actions not your intentions". I've thought about that alot over the past few months. So I try to do at least one good deed a day.
Leanne x
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