The Evil In Ourselves

THE EVIL IN OURSELVES

A few weeks ago Americans were stunned by the news that an American soldier in Afghanistan apparently killed 17 Afghan civilians. Friends and teachers of Robert Bales describe him as caring, gregarious and self-confident before he just "snapped." One childhood friend told the New York Times: "That's not our Bobby. Something horrible, horrible had to happen to him."

I thought the words of one of the commentaries written about this tragedy were right on: "Any of us would be shocked if someone we knew and admired killed children. But these days it's especially hard to think through these situations because of the worldview that prevails in our culture. According to this view, most people are naturally good, because nature is good. The monstrosities of the world are caused by the few people, like Hitler, who are fundamentally warped and evil. This worldview gives us an easy conscience, because we don't have to contemplate the evil in ourselves. But when somebody who seems mostly good does something completely awful, we're rendered mute or confused."