A Paper on the Notice Board

A paper posted to the notice board, addressed to Professor Shan Yu, Psychology 101. Signed by Felicia Onyx-Calloway.


To: Professor Shan Yu
Course: Psychology 101


It seems a lifetime ago when we had the debate in your class. I believe it was your second or third class of the summer session. You had several of us freshmen in it as well as other upperclassmen. Then you brought up your most famous quote,

“…live with a man 40 years…share his house, his meals, speak on every subject…then tie him up and hold him over the volcano’s edge. On that day, you will finally meet the man.”

I watched that day Professor how your eyes rolled back in your head, the frustration forming on your brow, the tenseness forming in your shoulders after two hours of discourse on who people think they are. Oh yes, there were all those answers from strength, to weakness to even a few saints in the classroom as I recall.

I watched your eyes light with an unholy fire when I finally spoke up.

“We are all murderers we just do not know it yet…”

Oh the uproar that simple statement caused was pure delight to you. There were those who went contemplative and others who denied it, others who tried to attack me rather than my stance. I reiterate my only reply to the comments and questions directed at me.

“Every last one of us has the capacity to take another human life with clear mind and thought. Some of us admit it, others do not, some will bluster about it and others will say that it is evil and a sin. None the less, we all can commit murder and will if the circumstance is right.”

I have not changed my stance in the weeks following. I am however sure of the answer to your question to me after class that day.

“Tell me Ms Onyx, what is evil.”

I thought long and hard on this, I asked some of my professors in Sigma Iota Nu, and one or two of my sisters. Even then, I was not quite sure. I asked my brother, my mother and my father. I looked high and low for answers that really in the end could never come. It came to me recently while I was recovering from my injuries of the building collapse. Oh I know what the papers were saying and you and I both know the truth do we not professor?

If we ask another what Evil is they will probably describe acts that are considered to be evil. What they have actually done is describe acts they find unpleasant to contemplate. They have described something they feel is morally objectionable to their personal or societal code. They have described an act that could be both heinous and disgusting. The death of children, the corruption of youth, murder, genocide, all of which society declares evil. Are they? Perhaps, perhaps not.

The ever so trustworthy and dependable World Wide Web indicates that:

“Evil is a broad term used to indicate a negative moral or ethical judgment, often used to describe intentional acts that are cruel, unjust, or selfish. Evil is usually contrasted with good, which describes intentional acts that are kind, just, or unselfish.
In many cultures, evil is used to describe acts or thoughts which are contrary to some particular religion. In some religions, evil is an active force, often personified as an entity such as Satan, or Ahriman.”

What we then establish is that evil, within its religious context is a way to pass the figurative buck on our own actions. Adams third wife eating the apple was an act of evil tempted by Satan. Soddom and Gommorah were places of evil, sin and vice and had to be destroyed. Even a more modern day and still just as relevant example, expanding from religion to culture, is the so-called “Axis of evil” where nations who live under an oppressive dictatorship that opposes the goals and culture of another country are evil. Perhaps then one could even go so far as to say the events in Germany as it pertains to those not of the blonde hair and blue eyes are too evil in this context.

In our modern examples, to be certain they are distasteful to the average individual that scuttles across this surface of this planet. You could even go so far as to say they are disgusting, reprehensible and outright wrong. However if you say they are evil, what you have then done is make a judgment to enforce your will, view and beliefs upon those of another being. Much as a mugger enforces his will over another for profit. A person who makes such a moral judgment does it to feel better about their own beliefs.

I come back to your quote, poetic as it may be. My brother thought it sadistic nonsense wrapped on florid prose. His opinion was his own to hold, much as his opinion on what evil would be. At the end of the day though I found there is one true evil in the world. It is not the man who straps the other over the edge of the volcano, but the victim. The victims’ behavior is the evil, prior to the revelation of his true self.

It sounds odd to be sure, but the truth is there. To deny ones true nature, to deny ones self is the only true evil in this world. If you believe in the Christians God, then you believe he gave you free will to make your own decisions. To abide by the will of another for simple convenience or to be dishonest so as not to offend, that is evil.

The truth, the core of who you are is not something to be ashamed of. If you can admit that and be ones self as you are meant to be, then you have transcended from the evils that men do and become something else entirely. You become more than human, more than man. You at that point are content with yourself in ways the average being never shall be. From that point on you can apply your mind, your body to any action and live without fear or regret for you know you are being true to yourself. Any action taken less than that would be denying who you are for the sake of pleasing a completely arbitrary and corrupt societal norm. In a word, evil.

So Professor that is my belief. I cannot enforce that upon you; you can accept it or deny it as you shall. I know what I am now, born of blood, fire and the destruction of my past. I no longer deny my nature and thus I can no longer continue to commit evil. I can be both murderous and charitable in the same moment, and they are with conviction and free will.

To surmise the only evil in this world is denying who we are. Anything else is a farce.