Matt Rawle, in What Makes a Hero?, defines Evil as nothingness. Evil exists, but only as a shadow – something defined only by a lack of light.
Consider the profound nothingness within and surrounding the 19-year-old who shot up the high school in Florida, or the 16-year-old boy who jacks cars in Chicago because he will not face a felony, or the politician in a position of great power who is blind to his own misogyny and insecurities, or the 14-year-old middle-school girl who ostracizes a fellow classmate by spreading rumors and lies.
Evil. It is all around us, one might say.
However, what if -- rather than pointing to an individual as embodying evil -- we see an individual who engaged not only in evil acts but who is also the product of an evil situation: one that has festered because of a profound nothingness.
Now, consider that we combat such evil by filling that nothingness. Micah, of the Old Testament, challenges us “to do justice, to love kindness, and to act humbly.”
Consider the above examples and how each life lacks all three elements – both the individuals themselves, and, more than likely, those individual and circumstances surrounding them as they navigate this difficult world.
Looking at evil this way disallows us to pin such evil actions not solely on a single person, but rather shifts our focus toward an entire society too timid, selfish, and scared to step into that nothingness.
Why not fill that nothingness not with a pointed finger but rather with a love that embodies justice, kindness, and humility?
I’m Michael Perry, and that is my perspective
