Evil Is As Evil Does... By Salad

I’ve been having an ongoing dialogue with women who I consider to be pretty darn “with it” and we lose commonality as we encounter one thing…

Our understanding of evil as it exists in the world and our management of it in our daily lives.

I say it exists, some say it doesn’t.

We differ.

It’s a big topic with some back story.

I was a pronounced liberal for a long time and I have to say I lost interest in the left due to its lack of dialogue about evil or as I choose to define it in my life…  Violence.

It is my assertion that the Left denies the existence of violence in a real way as a means of seeking to keep their message lean and strong and not pepper it in with too much struggle.  The Left needs to believe that as people are exposed to more opportunity they will become more participatory in dinner party conversation.

The Right, on the other hand, can’t wait to talk about violence, in part, because it acknowledges the presence of evil via religion.  The Right will get out an evil sandwich and take a big bad bite outta it while the camera is on, then spit it in the garbage when no one is looking.

Howevs, I’ve seen evil.  Personally.  I don’t buy into either angle…

I’ve read about it very recently.  I’m sure you have as well…

When a masked gunman blows away a bunch of tiny children, their school administrators, his parents, himself on a cold winter morning in Connecticut.

That sort of thing haunts me and I find myself asking others, how do we deal with something like that?
What is our society’s means of managing this shit? Truly?

 When someone fears nothing…  Is given to extreme violence with great impulsivity…  What then?

I keep looking to both sides for feasible demonstrations of what the game plan is but it remains polarized…
The Right wants you to invest in the Great White Dream, place your confidence in the individual to conquer all of his opposition, believe in the triumph of the human spirit with every last drop of sweat. Don’t trust the government, trust the individual; arm the individual to defend his rights and the rights of the weak. Trust religion and the beliefs of your fellow men in the kingdom of heaven and then…

All is well?

The Left says that colonialism gave us these traditions- capitalism/patriarchy, forced migration of millions of ethnic peoples, lack of value for women’s work; generations being raised with huge disparities in power and eventually they are going to want their power back.  So the powerless get sick.  And eventually the sick kill.  But if you give everyone a fair shot then we will have equal access to power and all of that evil will dissipate and then…

All is well?

Where are you, in all of this?  What are you feeling?

Weary?

Ready for truth?

Truth is somewhat easier…  At least for me…

Truth says that the State does not transform trauma by investigating child sexual abuse.

Truth says that a police officer does not transform domestic violence through paper documentation of the crime.

Truth says a social worker does not transform mental illness if she herself is not addressing her issues.

Truth says that police officers don’t assist little children in processing violence by telling them to close their eyes…

What we do is delay things a little while…

We notate…

We turn things over to an x factor that no one has bothered to define.

When we talk about evil, we talk about ourselves; we talk about all of us, collectively, in it together.

If we don’t start holding one another accountable, in a real way, it will be perpetuated.

We need to look at the spectrum:  the good, the bad, the ugly.  That’s what I think.

We need to look the ugly in the face and say…  Wowsers…  I’m hurting.

I’m sorry.

I fucked up.

You fucked up.

You hurt my feelings.

There’s no way out of this mess.

Let’s put the pills down and talk about it.

Why don’t you pay attention to me?

Talk to me.  Please.
….
I have a responsibility to wake up to reality and not engage in false dialogue.

I have a responsibility to take care of myself.  To engage the realness that is me with other folks who are doing the same.

My bad guys got away.  That’s okay.  Evil remains very real for me because no one ever “fixed” it for me.  Neither side (Right/Left) got it right.  That is my legacy.

But I’m a big girl.

I don’t go looking to the prison industrial complex to fix it for me.  I don’t go looking to religion. I don’t look for a spiritual teacher to enlighten me or a new degree to explain to me why people do the things that they do.

I put on my bright green eyes and see the nice blue sky and know that things happen that are not alright and that it is my responsibility to fight when necessary, find support when weary, and respond to the open opportunity to thrive.

The days of meditating on the mountain top are over.

It’s a razor’s edge, this life.

Community.  Action.

My.  Responsibility.

I have power and choice in my life today.  It’s my duty to make sure that other women and children do as well.

It’s messy but it’s worth it.

Trust me.

Join me.  Join us..