Good Vs. Bad: A Never-Ending Battle
In Genesis 11 the descendents of the original Man and Eve have finally united. But of course, this unity and happiness cannot last for long. God intrudes and splits all the people apart, confusing and disrupting them.
Nothing good lasts. Even from the beginning of mankind, as told in The Bible, bad things occur just as happiness and content set in. This never-ending cycle lays gloom over my mind whenever I find myself in a pleasant state. Happiness only appears as a warning to the evil ahead. But why does this occur? Why can’t peace live permanently throughout our world, leaving the earth and people’s state of minds free from evil? If peace were to occur, the world as we know it would exist as an entirely different place.
However, would this different world be more preferable? I don’t think so. The juxtaposition of good and evil in our world needs to occur in order to appreciate our happiness and even sometimes our unhappiness. The times that people cherish mostly derive from experiences of joy. This only happens because people understand dread and compared to that unhappiness, they can enjoy the delight in their life even more. Even in times of unhappiness, people realize and understand the different aspects of life and therefore put things in perspective and come out of this dread in a better, clearer state.
In order to appreciate the better things in life, unhappiness and pain must occur. No matter how much peace on earth seems better, good and bad combined will bring forth a more interesting and profound life.
Although I somewhat agree that without controversy, our world would be bland and meaningless, I believe that ultimately, peace in our world is a possibility. Gandhi remains the best example of this. He overthrew a whole government and led a rebellion without war.
Unfortunately, many leaders of countries do not do their part to encourage peace in society. When false accusations occur, some leaders automatically resort to violence.
The most recent disaster of when this occurred is President George Bush of our own United States. When he suspected Iraq of controlling nuclear weapons, he invaded with hundreds of thousands of troops. When no weapons were found, he declared it a “War on Terrorism”. The fact is however, that in the act of invading Iraq, he killed hundred’s of thousands of civilians and consequentially created more so-called terrorists. Many of these “terrorists” just wanted to avenge for fallen friends and family members. This ongoing cycle of violence proved nothing but disaster for both countries and could have been avoided.
Happiness is not always short-lived, and it can affect our lives in great ways. When people do good deeds, they motivated themselves to continue these acts because they feel like they have done something significant and helpful to someone else’s life. Good actions satisfy people and quench their desires to bring honor to their names. Many who see these good actions are influenced to act lovingly themselves, and the cycle continues. This gratification and happiness from good deeds lasts forever.
Nothing good comes out of pain and suffering except for experience, therefore it stands as the obstacle for good deeds. For example, someone might choose not to donate any money to a country in poverty because they fear that they will need the money for themselves in the future when they are old and have some sicknesses. Pain and suffering may also deaden people’s emotions and outlook on life, and happiness does not always foreshadow misery. Our world is not peaceful because of pain and suffering, and as long as pain and suffering prevail, people will never find happiness or goodness in a wretched world.
Proposition: For the development of our world, it is vital for people to stop acting in ways that may hurt others because there is no happiness in pain and suffering.
“It’s always darkest before the dawn.” (Batman) After reading your post, this is the fist thing that came to me. You need a few rainy days to appreciate a sunny day is another saying that also could work with your post. I agree, you need to have good and evil in the world. If everyone was the same the world would be mundane and life would be with out purpose. And of course, a world of just evil would be terrible. This statement is so true, its science, opposites attract. Without this principle there would be no order. Yes, tragedy is always a tough time for people, like the terrible loss in Haiti, but I know that we will come out of this stronger than ever.