Is man Good or Evil?

Man is innately good, but has the ability to be evil.

I believe that a majority of people do what they believe to be right.

Whether they are correct or not is another matter. In order to be truly

evil, I believe that one has to purposely, consciously, try to hurt others.

Be it physically or mentally, a conscious effort to injure others is for no

obvious benifit to the human race is evil. I also think that good and evil

are on totally different planes than right and wrong. They do not go

hand in hand. I believe this because good and evil in my mind are

concrete, they do not change. Right and wrong, however, are more of an

individual thing, which can not be confined to guidelines.

As I said before, I believe that people try to do good most of the

time. As in every rule, however, there is an exception. There are certain

circumstances in life which can change the way a person acts.

There is a definite duality within me. I am usually a good person. I

open doors, push in chairs, listen to people, and help little kids. But,

occasionally I catch myself thinking about how I could make someone feel

bad. I automatically feel my face turn red, and that would be the end of

the thought. But I think once in a while everyone thinks something like,

'He would really be embarrassed if I told everyone about that time at

camp. Plus I could get him back,' or something like, 'She doesn't

deserve that. What if they found out what she did last year.' This is not

exactly evil thoughts, but it can quite possibly lead to evil actions.

Prejudice is another form of evil that produces alienation and war.

I have certain prejudices that I carry and I am not very proud of them,

though often my instinct about a person is right. My major prejudice is

against people who cannot grasp new concepts at a relatively quick rate,

or those who cannot understand quickly. Somebody put it best by

saying, 'Oh, you mean the stupid people.' I truly do hate calling them

that, because