Being the devil
What lies in our power to do,
lies in our power not to do.
Aristotle
I’ve never been the devil before, at least not to my knowledge. None of my friends are demonic either. This keeps the world nicely uncomplicated and I rest easy at night.
Very few people actually intend to hurt others. We may be selfish at times. We may not always think things through but despite what the media would have us believe, we don’t set each other up to fail.
Maybe I’m naive, but I’m learning that some decisions can’t be made without collateral damage. I’ve always known this in a professional sense. Ethical behaviour in the workplace is straightforward but in relationships there’s no such thing as firm but fair. There’s only messy and subjective.
No, I’ve never been the devil before but once cast, it’s surprisingly easy to fall into character. How many of us have thought, “well if that’s the way you see me then FINE” and take that as permission to be bad? How easy is it to get sucked into a silly game and lose track of what you’re doing?
What lies in your power to do, lies in your power not to do. Someone seeing you as a bad guy, doesn’t make you one.
Muchness 