Good and Evil

Evil and Good
The obvious thing to say about evil is that it is the opposite of good. Some people may argue that there is a lot good in the world. Everyone does have evil in them and are very well capable of doing bad things. Although not everyone expresses their anger at the same level of intensity, everyone has most likely done more bad in their life then acts of good kindness. Shakespeare wrote, “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones,” act three, scene two of Julius Caesar. What people do good or bad it does impact the world we live in. In our world there is more evil than good.
The greater evil done, the more likely that the person will only be remembered for the evil he or she has done. Shakespeare’s quote is from Anthony’s speech occasioned by Caesar’s burial. Caesar is one of many men whose “evil,” acts overshadowed the good they were able to achieve, typically because of their evil. Shakespeare’s quote acknowledges how the power of evil last to people and how easy it is for people to forget the good. All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil.
Everyone does good and bad things but the bad things are often remembered after their deaths. Don’t forget we end to judge people by our own standards. Thus, good and evil are relative our environment, our thought process, and our heritage. Consider how someone like Adolph Hitler might have been thought of if Germany had won the war. Hitler was remembered as a bad person because he killed so many people and it out masked all of the good he did. The bad things he did impacted many peoples life’s. He did help our world by creating the highway system, the Volkswagen, the laws protecting animals from abuse, and many more, which made our life’s easier. Hitler will forever only be remembered for the evil that he did, and any good qualities he had have been completely forgotten by that evil.
Humans are caught in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too. When a person comes to die, no matter what his or hers talents and influence and genius, if he or she dies unloved their life must be a failure to them. It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world. The bad things people do before they die are remembered because it affects other people besides themselves and it is never forgotten. The good is usually buried with people and I believe that everyone is born good until showed otherwise.
For me, when it comes to the most important good figures throughout history, one has to measure not just their goodness but, the degree to which their goodness inspired or changed others around them. Buddha was considered a good person and he impacted the world. He was toward nonviolence and played a significant role in political history of Buddhist countries. Even people with bad attentions are attempting to carry out good agendas (although perhaps in the wrong manner). This planet would be different if good or bad never impacted those around them or those coming after them. Thus, even in the most evil person imaginable, it’s possible to find good characteristics.
People often complain about the unfairness in the world and that evil often triumphs over good. Most people are not purely good or purely evil. With the potential for evil so great in today’s materialistic, difficult society, we find ourselves with the difficult task of taking life’s many journeys and tests. Not every journey will result in goodness, and the ones that do not are a learning experience in which we must gain self-knowledge to prevent our evil from emerging. We must be able to take the knowledge with us and through every experience we encounter and incorporate it into our daily lives.
Conflicts heavily arise between the topics of good and evil. These conflicts can be extremely realistic or exaggerated. They both represent two powers that involve different emotions within your heart. Through common stories, good and evil are portrayed through protagonist and antagonist view, creating morals and opinions, and how society’s views have changed overtime. The first thing I think of when I hear “good vs. evil,” would be a fairy tale. Shakespeare’s quote, “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones,” means that if you do more evil than good in your life you will be remembered as a bad person after your death. Many people believe there is a lot of good, but in our world there is more evil than good.