I tried to remember this morning at what age I first considered the concept of evil. I suppose maybe when some kids in Panama smashed my balsawood airplane when I was playing with it alone. I was about 5 or 6. From then on as I entered school I was wary of bullies. I didn't allow myself to be bullied because as a Navy brat if you do that you're toast.
In high school I saw it in kids who teased the mentally retarded kids who attended our school. Some of them were my friends. So I associated with kids who sometimes did evil things I wouldn't do. Acquiescence.
As a society we associate with friends and family who support things at least 100 million of us consider evil. So maybe the problem is we don't know what evil is. Otherwise how could we be in disagreement on it? Evil is evil. It should be condemned by 100% of us.
I think we agree that the Uvalde shooting is the result of evil lurking in the human mind. How did it get there? Why wasn't he able to control it. Did he think it was evil to shoot little kids? Guess what? It doesn't matter. Evil is among us. It will surface repeatedly. The answer is to arrest it before it surfaces or set up measures to stop it from manifesting itself in public schools by people who don't belong there. It's called establishing security at public schools. Like at courthouses.
We can protect lawyer, judges and cops but not kids?
But in the long run, combating evil, which is part of life on planet earth, is best strategically and tactically opposed with knowledge of its source.
