As a storyteller, the greatest balancing act contained in most stories is that of good and evil
These two entities seem to constantly be at war with one another
I’m pretty confident you will agree with me that evil truly does exist in our world. The many atrocities we commit against one another would not be possible were it not for such a force as evilI struggle to say the same about good
Does it exist?
Where I’m from (inner city london) everything is backwards.
Bad is good
Bad is cool
Bad is on trend
Good is weak
Good is boring
Good is pointless
And with those sorts of criteria’s, who would volunteer to be good? Which kid doesn’t want to be popular to some degree, having many friends?
Even in scriptwriting, I have discovered that a story void of drama is boring, I certainly wouldn’t watch, read or listen to a story where nothing bad ever happened, a story where the characters are never challenged and never have to overcome anything
That would prove very uninspired
All of that to say this
Connecting the dots with your own story, your real life bio, could it be that you need the bad in order to appreciate the good?
I chose the word bad rather than evil in that instance since I wouldn’t wish evil on anyone, not even my worst enemy (if I had one)
But could it be that our stories are better relived from the standpoint of having overcome something?
Think about it
Don’t we brag about what we’ve been through and how hard we’ve had it? Isn’t that what gets and keeps people interested in what we have to say about ourselves?
The degree and shade of badness in our lives doesn’t really matter because it’s all relative
What I consider bad and insurmountable, you may see as a mere inconvenience
It’s all relative
But the point is, the bad is necessary, we need it, we can’t and won’t grow without it
Good vs evil is also an inner fight that each person must contend with for the rest of their time here on Earth
Ever known someone who was such a great person, so warm and kind and then you meet them again after a good amount of time has passed and it’s a completely different person
Their character is different, their demeanour and overall essence has done a 180 and now where before there was warmth, there’s ice cold distance. Where there was a smile, now exists only a glare
Life has happened to them (as it happens to us all)
It’s changed them
It’s given them blow after blow after blow until they’ve relented and given up
It’s too hard to keep going and it’s much easier to succumb to the bad
However, there are others who start off so off course, so disadvantaged and hard done by life that somehow it forces them to develop unmatched resilience in the face of adversity
They grapple with the good and bad within and choose good over evil no matter what
So don’t judge anyone
We are all only ever one decision away from good or evil
And in my opinion, it doesn’t matter as much how a person starts but how they finish
I’d rather be evil and choose good in the end than the other way around
It’s all a choice
Each choice matters in the long run so keep choosing whatever feels right, good and true to you each and every time
Be good
SRZ
Published by