Tag: bad manners

The Weird World of Evil

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 16 Comments

I’d like to do a little speculating, a little exploring, a little wondering today. Come play me……

Let us first clear the way with this  miserable disclaimer just so we can talk:  I am not challenging anyone’s faith, doubting anyone’s truths, nor making sport of anything sacred, eternal, or inspirational. 

The movie Solomon Kane begins:

There was a time when the world was plunging into darkness and chaos
A time of witchcraft and sorcery.
A time when no one stood against evil.

Now you know me. I like to play with ideas and words and dreams. And the beginning words of this movie made me wonder. What exactly is evil? Was evil an entity to be defeated? What turns people into evil creatures? 

Let’s leave out the devil for a moment. The Prince of Darkness, Antichrist, and Diabolus, too.

Evil begins as a state of mind. A state of emotional instability.

Now. most of us are emotionally unstable now and then. Many of us are questionable, period. But we don’t turn evil — we don’t kill or maim or abuse. We don’t haunt or terrorize or cause irreputable damage to minds or bodies. Babies aren’t born evil. I don’t believe there is a code in one’s DNA that says “this one is evil.”

So where does it come from?

Is it bred into someone from birth? Is it manifested by abusive parents or negative sensations or  bullying at school? Is it a result of a bruised ego? A broken heart? An unbearable pain?

An alien aural presence?

Hitler was an evil man. His part in World War II contributed to over 42 million deaths (and that’s a conservative estimate).  Was he evil because he merely wanted to keep the species pure? Genghis Khan (1206–1227)  was reported to have killed upwards of 40 million people building the great Mongol Empire. Did he manifest all that evil just to be the boss? An estimated 30-40 million Chinese died as a result of Mao Zedong’s repeated, merciless attempts to create a new “Marxism–Leninism” China. Was he evil because he wanted all of his people to think alike?

Then there’s small time evil. Ted Bundy. John Wayne Gacy. Jeffrey Dahmer. Columbine. Sandy Hook. Uvalde. The list could fill — does fill — pages in the history books. 

See what I mean? 

These people were the personification of evil. Self-centered, single-minded, selfish, steadfast mental cases. Yet they seemed perfectly sane to those around them.

Were they evil? Or merely misinformed? Misguided?

I often wondered why Sauron wanted to rule all the people in Middle Earth in Lord of the Rings. Or Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones. Fiction is just as full of evil doers who want to rule and don’t mind killing half the population to get their way. Was it for the money? For the fame? For slights against their character, real or imagined?

Evil is not the thing of sorcerers and demons. It is a human-bred mental illness that spreads from the host to those around them.

Evil is so much more complicated than black and white statements. It doesn’t come from talismans or mirrors or crypts or buried crosses. Evil doesn’t arise from spells or enchantments or curses. It is much more personal. Which makes it much more real.

You have to admit, evil is one of those esoteric topics that never really have an explanation or reason. 

Where do you think evil comes from?

 

 

 

 

 

The No-No’s of Office Protocol

~ humoringthegoddess ~ Leave a comment

a0a4925a0f035cdf664fbd910cbc0297Having worked in an office all of my life, there are certain faux paxs you just don’t do.

I mean, you live with these people 8-9 hours a day. Five days a week. Some of them know you better than your family knows you. So you try and keep some decorum around the office.

You don’t read out loud. Even though the music blasting overhead is enough to make sheep fleece uncurl, don’t add to the chaos by reading or re-reading anything out loud. Like your emails, your checking account balance, or the sentence you just typed.

You don’t pass gas by your desk. It’s one thing if you are walking down the hall or through a group of people standing smack dab in the middle of the aisle. They block, they pay. But sitting at your desk, there’s no one to blame, no one to look at, but you. That’s why women have doors on the bathroom stalls. Some of the noises that come out — you don’t want anyone to know it’s you.

You don’t keep your cellphone turned on. In the age of cellphones, some companies allow them, others do not. But there’s nothing more distracting than your ring tone of “Star Wars” or “I’m Too Sexy For My Shirt” going off in the middle of your typing in a spreadsheet. Buzzers are off, too. People can just imagine what’s going on with all that buzzing.

Speaking of cellphones, don’t talk about your personal life on the phone either. No one wants to know your husband’s favorite color toilet paper or how many times you stepped in dog puke. No one wants to hear your lamenting your weight or your social life or your choice of friends. Take it to the car or parking lot. The far parking lot.

Don’t bring smelly foods for lunch. Seafood Marinara and Fish Stew are wonderful meals at home, but to heat them up in the micro in a tiny cafeteria and then opening up their pungent odor at your desk is enough to drive men wild. And I don’t mean in a good way. Wars were fought for less than stinky fish smell.

Keep your wheezy, sneezy, contagious body home. Your constant drooly and drippy mess does not blend well with the silence, the muzak, or the temperament of those around you. Plus your hacking soon will become my hacking, and I already make enough noise.

Keep your boobs, butt, and navel to yourself. Hard working slaves aren’t interested in a peek at anything but a spreadsheet or a computer screen. If you think it gets you a better job, think again. Bosses have their own boobs, butts, and navels to take care of. And they’ve learned to keep them private.

Have I done any of these faux paxs?

Do you think I’d tell you if I did?

What are those old sayings — it takes one to know one…who smelt it dealt it…yakkity yak don’t talk back…