I Hope You Dance

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning to dance in the rain.

I do not know who said this originally. I just know that it makes my heart smile. Whenever I hear this, I also remember this one.

Do not tell God how big your storm is.
Tell your storm how big your God is.

Evil or a Poor Choice?

When did wrong become a poor choice? When did a choice cease being wrong? Where did right go?

I posted a couple of days ago about trying to explain Hitler and swastikas (and what they symbolize) to an 8 year old. I became involved in a conversation about the same topic and said that I had told lil man that the swastika was a bad sign.

The person I was talking to, let’s call them George, said there were no bad signs, just like there were no bad people. There were just people who had made poor choices.

I waited a couple of minutes so that I would not just erupt and then asked George if he did not think that Hitler was evil. He said no, that no one was evil, that Hitler had just made some poor choices, that evil did not exist.

I was dumbstruck.

I know that philosophically, I tend to oversimplify things. I always have.

In my world, where God reigns supreme, there is good.

Having said that, there is also evil.

Whether we choose to invite that evil into our lives is indeed our choice. I do think, though, that evil needs to be identified as evil. I think that characterizing Hitler, for example, as someone who made poor choices is minimizing the evil that the man wrought. It is also, conversely then, minimizing the good that is God.

I think Hitler, and his legacy, epitomize evil in 20th century history.

I hope that, at the end, he repented of his sins and, doubt not, they were sins.

Only God is huge enough to love and forgive such darkness.

I am not. I cannot understand such evil. I cannot imagine inviting such darkness into your soul and mind. I cannot conceive of not recognizing evil as evil.

Here is how Webster defines evil:
Main Entry: 1evil Pronunciation: \'ē-vəl, British often & US also 'ē-(ˌ)vil\ Function: adjective Inflected Form(s): evil·er or evil·ler; evil·est or evil·lest Etymology: Middle English, from Old English yfel; akin to Old High German ubil evil Date: before 12th century
1 a: morally reprehensible : sinful, wicked b: arising from actual or imputed bad character or conduct 2 aarchaic : inferior b: causing discomfort or repulsion : offensive c: disagreeable 3 a: causing harm : pernicious b: marked by misfortune : unlucky
— evil adverb archaic
— evil·ly \-(l)ē\ adverb
— evil·ness \-nəs\ noun

Morally reprehensible; sinful; wicked

Yep, just sounds a little more serious than “poor choices”, doesn’t it? Is that what happened?

When we, as a society, became more concerned with a child’s self-esteem than with their moral fortitude, did we just ease away from all the words that made US uncomfortable?

Maybe it’s time for us to say, “What you did was wrong. That was bad. That is a sin.” instead of ,"You could have made a better choice.”

I don’t have the answers.

I just know that, as sure as I am that there is good, there is evil.
As sure as I am that there is God, there is Satan.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Irish politician Edmund Burke (1729 – 1797).

Musings

Simone Weil:
anarchist
soldier
factory worker
labor organizer
school teacher
Christian
resistance fighter
philosopher.

This is everything that I know about Simone Weil. I read a quote attributed to her in a novel I recently read. It struck a chord in my mind (or what passes for it these days) so I am sharing it with you.

'A hurtful act is the transference to others of the degradation which we bear in ourselves.'
Simone Weil

Have a great day and know that you are loved.