good & evil

[jenk]

From the "Good And Evil" chapter of Kathleen Norris' Amazing Grace...

Most of the time, people will not come out and say that they are good people in contrast to those who are not, but that is often what they mean. And this strikes me as a dangerous proposition. History demonstrates, repeatedly, that if enough people begin to define themselves as "good" in contrast to others who are "bad", those others come to be seen as less than human. [..]

I think many of us tend to spot when someone else is setting oneself up as "good", and others as "bad". I'm not always so good at seeing when *I'm* the one doing it.

I feel that it is my business, when I read the news account of some horrible crime not to regard my "good" self as completely separate from the "bad" people depicted in the story but to search my own heart for a connection. I try to see if I can understand how it is these people have done what they have done. Not to excuse them, but to draw them closer in order to pray for them and also to pray over what it means to be linked with them in a common humanity. And sometimes murderers do help me recognize that my own anger feels like murder; I can comprehend all too well how my rage, left unchecked, might translate into a careless or even truly terrible act meant to destroy another.

Praying for W is generally plenty challenge for me; I don't feel the need to pray for random folks in the news. That said, I can relate to wanting to understand why someone would choose to harm another. I find this practice useful when hearing of an interpersonal squabble between people I know on several levels: it helps me to understand the people better; it tends to help me avoid taking sides, if necessary; and, like Kathleen, it has lead me to understand myself better.

Kathleen also muses on how people say "I'm a good person", and is "always amazed when people claim to know that about themselves." She adds, "To say, 'I try to be a good person,' on the other hand, makes perfect sense to me." Myself, I think that "I'm a good person" often means "I try to be a good person, and I'm not feeling overly bad about anything right now." But maybe that's me.