Last year, my English teacher asked us to write an essay on what we thought evil was. Seriously, it was called the Evil Essay. So, after thinking long and hard about everything I thought about society, life, and all that jazz. I came up with this.
Evil is perception and opinion.
Now that's all fine and dandy, and I wrote my essay on why evil was perception and opinion, but I managed to miss the bigger picture. My concluding statement was, Like a double edged sword, it depends on the side that a person looks at, or uses, to determine if something, or someone, is “evil.” The bigger picture my sophomore mind failed to see at the time, was that perception and opinion are double edged swords. They have their positives and negatives, pros and cons, however you wish to phrase it, but they are double edged swords. Once I realized this fact, I got to thinking, what if there were more double edged swords?
The Double Edged Sword of Society
Now there isn't one sole thing that is the double edged swords of society, but there are many. Perception, opinion, morals, ethics, even society itself. One minute, everything is fine and working with you, maybe you just told off some guy for not recycling and how it was people like him who are ruining the planet and are feeling pretty good about yourself because you recycled. However, that same concept of recycling can come back and bite you. Maybe you forgot to put your newspaper in the recycling bin and threw it in the normal trash, someone notices and in turn tells you off for not recycling. That's essentially that old saying, what goes around comes around. But that's beside the point. The point is that EVERYTHING is a double edged sword.
Even your hobbies and passions are a double edged sword.
I'm an amateur photographer. I love taking pictures. I've been told my pictures are beautiful and even inspire some people. However, while I love photography, it is an expensive hobby. I have a DSLR, digital single lens reflex, this means that my camera has a mirror in it that flips up and the sensor records the image off it. Now the mirror and sensor are very delicate and are the heart and soul of the camera. It costs a lot to get that tiny object cleaned. In addition to that, I am constantly looking online at camera equipment to figure out what lens I want next, or what kind of flash unit I might want. My current wish list is expansive, and expensive. And just like that, the thing I love the most and wish I could do all day, becomes my worst nightmare and greatest enemy. But it's not just photography. Sporting equipment is expensive as well. For professional athletes, one tiny injury, that was gotten while playing,can end their career for good. The sport that made them, becomes the sport that brakes them.
Overall, this all points to one thing, life. Life has its ups and downs. Life has its great moments when everything is working out for you, but life also has its moment when you feel like it is chewing you up and spitting you out. You get that big job promotion and everyone is congratulating you that day. You walk into the office the next day and everyone hates you, or rather, your position. Life likes to play with us mortals. It likes to throw curve balls and screw balls, and sometimes, just plain balls. Which brings me to my final point, the big picture my sophomore mind failed to see...
Life itself is a double edged sword, that is made up of a whole lot of double edged swords.
But you know what, that's what makes life interesting.
Evil is perception and opinion.
Now that's all fine and dandy, and I wrote my essay on why evil was perception and opinion, but I managed to miss the bigger picture. My concluding statement was, Like a double edged sword, it depends on the side that a person looks at, or uses, to determine if something, or someone, is “evil.” The bigger picture my sophomore mind failed to see at the time, was that perception and opinion are double edged swords. They have their positives and negatives, pros and cons, however you wish to phrase it, but they are double edged swords. Once I realized this fact, I got to thinking, what if there were more double edged swords?
The Double Edged Sword of Society
Now there isn't one sole thing that is the double edged swords of society, but there are many. Perception, opinion, morals, ethics, even society itself. One minute, everything is fine and working with you, maybe you just told off some guy for not recycling and how it was people like him who are ruining the planet and are feeling pretty good about yourself because you recycled. However, that same concept of recycling can come back and bite you. Maybe you forgot to put your newspaper in the recycling bin and threw it in the normal trash, someone notices and in turn tells you off for not recycling. That's essentially that old saying, what goes around comes around. But that's beside the point. The point is that EVERYTHING is a double edged sword.
Even your hobbies and passions are a double edged sword.
I'm an amateur photographer. I love taking pictures. I've been told my pictures are beautiful and even inspire some people. However, while I love photography, it is an expensive hobby. I have a DSLR, digital single lens reflex, this means that my camera has a mirror in it that flips up and the sensor records the image off it. Now the mirror and sensor are very delicate and are the heart and soul of the camera. It costs a lot to get that tiny object cleaned. In addition to that, I am constantly looking online at camera equipment to figure out what lens I want next, or what kind of flash unit I might want. My current wish list is expansive, and expensive. And just like that, the thing I love the most and wish I could do all day, becomes my worst nightmare and greatest enemy. But it's not just photography. Sporting equipment is expensive as well. For professional athletes, one tiny injury, that was gotten while playing,can end their career for good. The sport that made them, becomes the sport that brakes them.
Overall, this all points to one thing, life. Life has its ups and downs. Life has its great moments when everything is working out for you, but life also has its moment when you feel like it is chewing you up and spitting you out. You get that big job promotion and everyone is congratulating you that day. You walk into the office the next day and everyone hates you, or rather, your position. Life likes to play with us mortals. It likes to throw curve balls and screw balls, and sometimes, just plain balls. Which brings me to my final point, the big picture my sophomore mind failed to see...
Life itself is a double edged sword, that is made up of a whole lot of double edged swords.
But you know what, that's what makes life interesting.
