Good vs Evil

As a young boy growing up and attending first of all public school and later Catholic School I have memories of standing up in class to Salute the Flag and offer a song to Her Majesty, the Queen. It was sort of a quaint and yet a nice way to start the day. Later in upper grades attending Catholic School the day would perhaps start with a prayer.  My decision to leave the Catholic religion or at least experience aspects of other religions was perhaps all a part of learning and seeking knowledge of just where I stood with myself in relation to God.  And perhaps I still seek some understanding and reach out for
meaning in this often dark and unholy world. I recall an earlier blog where I wrote about a book written by a high ranking official in the armed forces and his experience with violence and evil
in Africa, the vicious and unnecessary killing of entire villages. And we are all taking note, I am sure of daily happenings in our world where someone does something very very bad and explains that he or she was under control of some force, some evil
and as sure as the sunshine brightens the day, we all
experience the dark of the night. And we need to listen to the good voices within and pray for those who feel so overtaken - they become like lost souls,
and life does not have to be like that. But unfortunately for some, it seems there are just no options, no escape from the demons within. And that is so terribly sad and tragic.

Consider, if you will for a moment, your own life and the times your thoughts perhaps drifted to the crazy side - for as they say, we are all capable of doing good and doing bad. Sometimes the tempation to be bad is almost over-powering and sounds to be more fun than good. Sometimes life
offers many temptations, whether they be eating or drinking too much, cheating on those we love or simply living in the shadow of bad.  And everyone has gone into the shadows from time to time. We are after all not perfect human beings by any means, and we need to look at the big picture, what is happening all around us on this place we call mother earth and try our best to contribute something wonderful and meaningful and in so doing, at least we have the opportunity to become better people....

And we need to remind ourselves, evil is around us
every moment of the day, and it is our basic personal choice to constantly consider whether we prefer to exist in the shadows or live in the brightness of an even greater light...