Good Vs Evil

     “There is nothing good nor bad, but thinking makes it so” – Shakespeare wrote. When I read that I thought about how true it was and the irony of mankind (no matter what race, religion, or language) to put those labels on everything around us. I realized that most people would attest to the validity of that statement once they’d thought on it. We’d all see it was true but who would actually believe it? I’d admit it was a clear dose of reality but my heart wouldn’t be able to accept a contradiciton to something it had been conditioned with since childhood.

-Did you have a good time?

-Brush your teeth or you’ll have bad breath

-Be good for the babysitter

-Santa won’t come if you’re bad

When friends and I were young we didn’t have a defined picture of what being “good” meant, but we knew it had something to do with eating our vegetables and cleaning our rooms and not making a fuss at bedtime. What if everyone on the planet woke up tomorrow and decided that brussel sprouts were actually good? Would they still be bad?

I guess that’s too generic of an example.

What about wickedness? What used to mean Evil or Villainous, is now slang for Cool or Awesome. I guess it switched sides. What about Murder? The word has a Bad reputation. Even murderers would describe the act as a “bad” thing.

Mr. Adolf Hitler murdered thousands, and he had a whole country believing it was a good thing.

Kind of like the brussel sprouts huh? I wonder if enough people changed their minds about something, if it’s status can change. Is it truly only a state of mind that controls something as important as Good vs Evil?

It’s a scary thought.

Or is it only the fact that we thought it, that makes it scary?