“These are the Times that try men's souls.” Very much so. These are times that introspection and self-evaluation have apparently lost all appeal and acceptance of the necessity to be in place and in honest use, applied to behavior and thoughts and deeds falls by the wayside. Mankind, in its arrogance, has deemed moral introspection antiquated at best and an impediment to progress, not so much societal as individual.
Increasingly, we have manifested a growing lack of a functioning moral compass. We have driven it into obsolescence along with its rather uncomfortable questions of assessment re morality. It has grown rusty with disuse, as we built a wall insurmountable, a wall which hides our blackened souls from our inner eyes. The soul withers and dies from lack of attention and proper nourishment. Leakage of its disintegration seeps through but is shrugged off or swept away. The neighborhood of morality and practitioners has become unfashionable, to be avoided. Its main bus route has become unpassable as the wheels of that bus are clogged with the detritus of those thrown beneath them.
Why has this become the current state of affairs? I have thought long and hard in my search to find an answer which would at least help me understand. The search has not led me to a definitive answer nor solution, but perhaps I have gained a glimmering of understanding, not a pleasant achievement. I have harked back to the earnest discussions of high school and college days when we knew the answers. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, a word surfaces, flashing before my eyes, ringing the bells of my mind. In our time of arrogance, of knowing we knew it all, we. ignored the truth. There it was, right in front of us but we refused to acknowledge it. It could not possibly be. Certainly, we were better than that, had more control over our lives, and would not repeat the errors of our parents. We knew better; of course we did.
No, we would not. allow that 4 letter word to rule our lives. We trashed it. We would drive it into obsolescence. It would die of starvation. We were better than that. And so, we turned out backs to the truth that did not mesh with our idealistic oh so hopeful thoughts. Unfortunately, in ignoring it we merely strengthened it to the point where it could not be contained any longer. The ugly bubble burst. Out poured a stinking ugly stream. and we could not fix that leak. There was no finger large enough to plug the hole of the dike. It would not, could not, be returned to containment. Its poison was free and clear to spew forth and share its ugliness with any open to it.
So simple. Yet we continue to deny it. Too simplistic. Not possible. We are far too sophisticated for that to be true. But it is true. Evil is a reality. It consumes the soul, warping it for eternity. Far more than simple wrongdoing. It derives from and is driven by desperate need to satiate the bloodlust consuming it from inside out and the constant necessity to feed it. Ever hungry.
Evil. - "profoundly immoral and ". " Morally reprehensible.” “Pernicious " And my all-time favorite, encompassing all, is “a cosmic evil force, something that brings sorrow, distress and calamity." And there you have it. Within our very challenged world there are forces of evil and calamity. The impartial evil of disaster of floods or fires is Nature - unless set in motion with deliberate act. Those disasters belong in the House of the Lord. The Evil that scares the dickens out of me is the evil that comes from people who do not know anything else. Who seek out only that which will enhance these desires, these needs and cravings for evil. For the disaster it imposes upon others. For the cruelty with which it treats others, any sentient form of life.
Such proponents of evil have no soul. Only a darkness within, impossible to measure, define, and isolate and destroy. Defeat over Evil is in a constant state of activity, for its seeds of ugliness always find places in whom to grow. These incubators of Evil will have no soul, no humanity, no positive emotions and lives for ugliness. It inspires emulation via fear or the liberating feeling when all restrictions are lifted. There is simply no good side of Evil and its presence in people. There is only the potential and the activation of Evil, and nothing of empathy or sympathy, any humanity to be found within these broken dangerous shells of humans. They are capable of great deceit and can convince anyone of anything. Understanding and discernment must be clear.
We live in a time of evil. We have given it nourishment. We have allowed it to flourish. We have made heroes of those embodying that Evil. Humanity has chosen too often to follow the Evil, fooled by its surface attractiveness. Do we have a natural affinity towards evil? I can't answer that for sure, for everyone. I do know that evil is rampant, growing in influence and territory day by day. It must be acknowledged and addressed. If we refuse to accept that, to know that in the very narrow of our bones - we are lost. Evil will consume us. We will wake up as I did tonight. Multiple times. Shouting with fear. For Evil stood at my door and knocked powerfully.
------------------------------------------------ Yitzy yesterday was your Hebrew birthday. Yet another plunge of the knife into our hearts. Every turn brings a memory. there is a memory of you. A longing for you. An absence which grows wider, longer every day.
For sure your grin, your eyes, your hugs, would be so beneficial to us now. They are only in our imaginations and that is where we must find you. Only there. can we hug you.
Always and forever. Always and forever.
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