On the nature of evil:

"Virtue is knowledge and vice is ignorance."           Socrates  ------------------- All that man calls evil could also be called incompetence, or ineffectiveness.    The happiness of mankind is our universal good.  Happiness is both a natural and understandable goal of all human activity.   Who can prove that what he calls evil is not a good in the mind of the evil doer.   An angry young man in a new leather coat, stormed out of the shrimp shack.  The dismissive smirks of  Flora, the unhappy but  long adored beautiful Dominican waitress, left him feeling impotent. He viciously mugs an 87 year old  widow two block away. ripping her coat and taking her last $9.  She had fearfully avoided his furtive glance,  She lives on 200 calories a day, shivering in a threadbare cloth coat.  The coat was a cherished gift from her husband on her 65th birthday. He bragged to his friends in a bar later that evening, that he had demonstrated his estimable nature and regained his confidence.  ------------------- A drunken ugly man quickly walks into a storefront real estate office.  His shy beautiful wife is there struggling though her first day on the job.  She knows the manager hired her because he likes her, so she is wearing a flimsy sexy yellow dress.   She is also heavily made-up,  concealing a painfully swollen eye..  She really needs the job, a 30 day eviction notice was freshly posted on the door of their small apartment..    She narrowly avoided the process server, as she and her 3 children ran down 87 urine soaked steps  to avoid the looks and questions  Questions about rent. about screams, about cries, about  loud arguments which increasingly disturbed the deserted hallways.  And questions about the un-kempt  hair and clothing, and the terrible manners of her children. He intimidates the elderly manager with wild eyed contempt.   His unseasonable overcoat unbuttoned held tightly to his sides.  For more than 30 minutes he stood outside, just out of view of the owner, gesturing frantically for his wife to come outside.  His rage built on every second that she failed to notice him, and every appreciative look that the owner lavished on her.  A new tear washed his dark cheek with each memory of his child's shyness, indifference, or fear towards him. Eyes clouded with tears, he yells with demonic rage "Bitch", and shoves his hand deep into his pocket, pulling out.... -------------------  Evil is one of the most over-rated and fallacious concepts that man has yet developed. One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. Any time you hear someone refer to someone else as “evil” check your pockets to ensure your wallet is intact. People only act out of perceived self interest, and this includes crazy people. ----------