Lesson #11- About Evil – Evil is a real thing, and there are people who serve it. Most of them are foolishly unaware of the evil they do. Be careful of them, but love them too, and pray for them. Remember that even the best people, with the best intentions can hurt you.

Lesson #11- About Evil – Evil is a real thing, and there are people who serve it. Most of them are foolishly unaware of the evil they do. Be careful of them, but love them too, and pray for them. Remember that even the best people, with the best intentions can hurt you.

from Lessons from my Father

I’m continuing my series on Lessons from my Father with a very sobering topic, that of understanding the risk of harm that people can do to you, including those closest to you.

This is not a blog post about morality. This is a post about understanding that there are people who do harm, either intentionally, or unintentionally. The harm itself, is real, and has consequences.

Regardless of their motives, what they do to others, leaves people injured. Definitely hurt. Sadly, and often, the harm done is unintentional. Many are unfortunately unaware of the harm they do. This certainly doesn’t make it right. It’s still harm.

I’m not going to get into all the different places in which this can happen. Living life is often a battle of trying to always see the good in others, and avoid the harm. Whether it’s falling victim to a scam, or it’s a friend that has done something to hurt you, harm is there and it’s very real. It hurts and it can hurt bad.

Sometimes the pain is more about the regret, as if you should’ve known better. Sometimes the pain is embarrassment. But once the harm is done usually it’s too late. I guess the important thing is try to not do any harm first and foremost, and be mindful that there are those out there who have chosen to do harm.

I’m not talking about horrors and atrocities

I’m not talking about the masses who throughout history seemingly stood by while the gas chambers were filled, or the slave ships. True, there are horrible, evil acts committed throughout history, throughout many generations. My parents families both survived the horrors of World War II, and even more tragic is that human trafficking still exists, slavery, war and murder. Evil is alive and well in our day and age. No, that’s not the topic here.

I’m not talking about the obvious scams

We live in a world full of crime and danger. Scams abound in our day and age, including the countless number of ways that we can fall victim to cyber crime; stolen bank accounts, credit cards and even our identities. It seems that as soon as each new technology is invented, criminals are eagerly making use of it to do us harm. Unfortunately, he fell victim to them more than once and he didn’t want me to experience the financial loss that he did. No, that’s not what this post is about either.

The key in this lesson is this; most are foolishly unaware of the evil they do…

While there are several things that could fall under this topic, I am talking about a different type of evil, common evil, and it destroys relationships. The people who serve this evil, are seemingly unaware of the impact they have. They don’t know the damage they are causing.

Lying

From my perspective, one of the greatest evils is one that would appear to do no physical harm; it’s lying. It may appear that there is no harm done when a lie is told, but when the lie is found out, all trust is gone. How will you ever be known again as a person who can tell the truth?

Lying is evil, not because of the intention, it’s because of this erosion of trust. When people lie, it is the beginning of the end of relationships. No relationship can outlast lying, and the distrust that comes with it.

Foolish, unnecessary

Most lies are told for no reason at all. Why not just tell the truth? Is it out of fear of embarrassment? Perhaps. Usually it’s some form of fear. Is the lie worth more than the friendship? Is it worth more than trust?

You say, “Yeah, I may have been making some of that up, but what I am telling you now is the truth…”
I say, “Sure. How can I know the difference?”

Perhaps, culturally we like lies? We like stories, and we’d rather hear a good yarn than the boring truth? Maybe we want our heros to be bigger heros? Maybe we want our politicians to be heros? Instead of the boring truth, we want more to it. More umph. It would appear that as a society we want the headlines that sell the news, and maybe that makes us more prone to try lying ourselves? I don’t know the reason, but I know the cost.

Lies Abound

No kidding right? Everyone knows this. And yet, people seem to lie often. Sometimes they justify it by only telling the side of the story that benefits them. We can’t seem to escape it. The twisted truth seems to be everywhere. You can listen to the news and hear a story, then change the channel and hear the other side. Which one is telling the truth? Which one is lying? It seems that each side is feeding their supporters the propaganda they want to hear. And then the politicians, seemingly have no end to telling their crowds what they want to hear. Feeding them the narrative, enhancing the story, to make them appear more noble, more brave, more just, more deserving. Lies, lies, lies.

Messed Up? Fess Up, don’t Dress it Up

When I am tempted to lie, is when I messed up something. That’s where I want to put a “positive spin” on it. Often I meant to do something good, and it went bad. That doesn’t matter. It’s still messing up. And often, I have to stop myself, and resist the temptation to try to protect my “image”. I messed up, that’s the truth. And it feels good to admit that, instead of trying to make up some story to cover it up. The truth always feels better, even when it’s unflatering.

Trying to look good, people lie all the time

People lie all the time, making up tails instead of telling the truth. Remember that they don’t realize what they are doing. Be careful not to get too hurt by them. And love them anyways, although you may find it hard to trust them. That’s understandable. They probably lied because they wanted to look good, and now that they are caught, they look pretty stupid.

Sorry, I can’t fix this one

I don’t have a happy end here. There is no positive twist. People are going to lie to you. And when you find out, you won’t trust them anymore. That’s how it works.

Just try to forgive them, but be careful. And don’t be like them. Don’t make up stuff. Don’t lie. It’s not worth the cost.

Lesson #11- About Evil – Evil is a real thing, and there are people who serve it. Most of them are foolishly unaware of the evil they do. Be careful of them, but love them too, and pray for them. Remember that even the best people, with the best intentions can hurt you.

Oh I have more to say on this lesson from my dad, and the evils that people are foolishly unaware that they do. Unfortunately that subject is on good intentions and unintended consequences, a cause an effect that continues to cause great harm. Until then, remember it’s not worth the cost to spin a lie.