For the most part, I want to keep this post pretty lighthearted, but occasionally something comes to mind that I just can't shake. This is one of those times.

I received an email recently relaying the events of a traffic accident that could have had tragic results (the driver that was hit was dragged out of the car and beaten by the other driver, with the promise of worse things ahead, until a passerby intervened and the other driver fled).

I replied to this email that the way I see it, the "good guys" still outnumber the bad guys and for all the horrible events of our time, we just need to focus on that. That person who came to [the driver's] rescue is a "saint" in my opinion and we just can't let evil win! Yes, as much as I don't want to admit it, there is real evil in the world

In even replying this way, I faced real conflict with myself. There have been times when I thought that there was no such thing as evil, and others (like the aforementioned event) where I think evil's present in our world. It's a question that I struggle with every day.

Today I'm on the side that doesn't believe that people are evil, per se, but that they make really, really evil choices. Let's look at the DC snipers for instance.

Didn't the fact that they hid from authorities and took the time to customize a vehicle so that they could wreak their havoc without even leaving the comfort of their car say that they knew right from wrong, and they chose wrong and continued killing random people? Wasn't this evil?

If they had just shown up at a shopping center and started blowing people away in full view of everyone, I would have been more willing to believe that they were just crazy, insane people that didn't know a good choice from a bad (evil) one.

What do you think?