P.J. O' Rourke once said, “No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power." It is no secret that there is evil in the world- there always has been and there always will be. Inanimate objects and ideas -money, drugs, power, hate- are not in themselves evil, but have the potential to become the manifestations of evil depending on what human beings decide to do with them. Without humans, there would be no addiction. Without humans, there would be no greed. Without humans, there would be no hate, nor prejudice. Without humans, evil does not have the ability to exist. However, we can lessen its power over society by understanding where it comes from within ourselves.
Humans like to hope that there will always be a smooth path laid out in front of them, displaying to them in black and white what is good and what is evil and how to choose between the two. Though this thinking is idealistic, it is not realistic. The ideas of good and evil have been imbedded in the human psyche since the beginning of time- (Jesus equals good, scary Satan snake in garden equals bad.) Evil lies within us all, dependent on the deepest inner-workings of our subconscious. It is only natural to possess evil as a human being due to its tempting and alluring simplicity. We cannot rid of it, for without evil, good cannot exist either. It is up to us whether or not we allow evil to slither through our subconscious and come to the surface of our working thoughts and actions.
Evil has a direct correlation with temptation. We are told not to do something, so it makes us want to do it. What if Eve was never told not to eat the apple, would she still have wanted it even if she was allowed to have it, or was she just tempted because it was forbidden? Human beings are naturally drawn to evil because it is simply easier to satisfy our temptations than to torture ourselves with longing. The "evil" way of thinking is: I see it, I want it, I'm going to have it; whereas "good" thinking is: I see it, I want it, but I can’t have it because ________. Evil does not have to make moral and ethical excuses for itself, and that is what makes it so easy to do.
Human beings have the power to do what they want with whatever they want. Some of us channel this ability into good, creating cures for illnesses using modern science, whereas others of us create meth labs using modern science. Some of us look at a stick and see a tool, while others of us look at a stick and see a weapon. Everything we create, whether it be something materialistic or something abstract, has the ability to be used for good or for evil, there is no in between. Are we going to allow our money to cause greed? Are we going to use our power to hurt people? Are we going to let drugs lead to addictions? Is our hate going to lead to racism and prejudice? It is up to us if we allow all up these things to become evil, to poison our society, to control us. We must know that we are stronger than these things. We can resist. We can.
