The Juxtaposition of Good and Evil

I wasn’t going to post of this incident, for it might smack of me being highly self-congratulatory. In fact, I wasn’t planning to post at all today, thinking that you might need a break from me. And maybe you do. :)

But when I clicked onto Sandra’s blog and listened to a very distraught lady’s very emotional response to dear leader here, I changed my mind. 

In her short, emotional interview, in addition to being angry and distraught, she talked of the juxtaposition of good and evil in human behaviour.

It made me think of yesterday, when I believe that I did a good thing but did it in the midst of a kind of evil. Perhaps that is the wrong word because evil tends to denote purposeful malevolence, so let me just call it sadly unfortunate.

We don’t see too many down-and-outers (I assume homeless) in our town, so when I do, I am moved. Yesterday, we passed a man standing with a huge cart piled high with garbage bags containing, I presume, all of his worldly belongings. Because such sights are few and far between here, encountering people who need assistance, is somewhat emotional for me. And because I am not required to reach into my pocket often, I was able to offer him something.

He wasn’t begging and wasn’t even looking in my direction when I passed by, so that is what I did — passed by. I wanted to offer him something, but I didn’t want to make a show of it. Once past, I fumbled for my wallet and pulled out a twenty. Then, I turned back to him, tapped him on the shoulder and asked, “Would this help you?”

He said that indeed it would. I simply patted him on the shoulder and kept on walking. 

So, I guess that was a kind thing to do and was all that I could reasonably do. But I should not have had to do it. Society should be able to better help those who need help in this life, for my belief is that people cannot help what they are. If someone can’t fit into society in the normal way, that someone is still a someone and, as such, is deserving of a decent existence. 

I had a grand uncle whom I never met. He was a brother of my grandfather. He was a paraplegic, I think born that way. I have seen pictures, in which he appeared decently dressed and cared for. He was lucky in that way at least. Some people aren’t lucky, partly because the world has changed and the support of villages and of extended families has been lost for the most part. 

So that is what the lady in the interview was talking about, or at least how I related it to my own experience, the juxtaposition of good and evil that lies within humanity. I think it is a good thing to reach out a helping hand if and when we are able, but the reality that we allow great needs to endure is a rather evil thing.

(I hesitated to post these rudimentary thoughts as perhaps being too maudlin or self-aggrandizing, but, as is plain to see and for better or worse, I did come back and hit that Publish button.)