House of the Chakram

good vs. evil...

I recently purchased the BBC version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on DVD. Some of you may remember this TV show from way back. =) (Yes, this applies to my title, just bear with me.)

Anyway, the segment where they go into the history of the Earth with Deep Though coming up with the answer to the "ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything" got me to thinking. Not about the ultimate question, really, but about the meaning of life.

Every day on Yahoo! news, on the TV news, everywhere, the news is full of stories of horrible things - bombings, kidnapping, child molestation, murder, greed, scandal, etc. As a student of media, yes, I understand that part of the reason for this is that stories like that sell advertising. A news night full of sunshine and rainbows isn't as interesting to the "average joe".

With so much evil in the world, whether the evil acts stem from inherent wickedness of the perpetrator or simple stupidity or thoughtlessness, I've been wondering about my own life.

I do my best every day to be kind, funny, thoughtful, compassionate, caring, and overall a "good" person. Of course I don't *always* succeed...I have my cranky, selfish, thoughtless moments just like any normal person. But I try to be the kind of person that when people think of, they think of in a positive way.

The whole "meaning of life" segment on HHG got me wondering though, what's the point? I mean, there's so much evil, so many people who don't value life...is my being "good" of any worth at all?

I guess in my heart I know that the positive things I do affect the people around me in a positive way. And I also know that a small stone thrown into a pond can have ripples that reach pretty far. An action, good or bad, on the part of one person can affect things you wouldn't even have imagined.

All my life, I've had a driving desire to believe that people are inherently good. And all my life, I've been disappointed over and over by people who haven't lived up to that. (yes I know that's naive) Yet I still retain that core belief.

Do I expect too much of people? Why is it so hard for them to just "do the right thing"? Yes I know that the definition of "the right thing" is different for different people, but in my mind there are some absolutes. Don't kill people (there are exceptions for me here, like self-defense, for example...my focus on "don't kill" is premeditated murder). Don't abuse or molest children. Don't steal. Don't hurt people (on purpose). Things like that.

Yet it continues to happen, every day over and over, everywhere.

Why?

I just don't understand. Why the hate? Why the violence? Why the irrational unreasonable murder?

I don't want to believe that we're still all just animals, but I guess some are. Hence my "people who should be taken out back and shot right now" list.

Guess I just wanted to share some of the things that I've been pondering lately.

posted by Michelle @ 8:54 AM