Faith

"We have all been horrified by the violence in Kenya over recent days, yet inspired by the nobility of those working to feed and shelter the thousands who have fled the killing. How do we make sense of the extremes of evil and greatness human beings are capable of?"

We recognise that everyone is an individual, and that each of us grow and develop as a person influenced by a variety of circumstances around us at different times during our lifetime. This causes a process of change within us, sometimes hardly perceptible, at other times very noticeable. The changes might be temporary or permanent.

Some of us are fortunate enough to live in a loving and caring environment with family and friends who offer help and guidance when it is needed, provide us with a home, food, clothing, encourage us in education and personal development, and support us in times of need. This does not mean that we are necessarily raised in a materially wealthy situation, but more importantly, one in which consideration, love and kindness prevail.

At the other end of the scale, some people are not so fortunate, they may be exposed to bullying, cruelty, starvation, forcibly removed from their home and family, abused for the benefit of other people’s gain, war, natural disaster, and so on.

Some people may experience life with a mixture of the circumstances above, and perhaps other situations and events not mentioned.

Throughout our life, the experiences, knowledge and understanding that we gain determine our personal qualities, characteristics and behaviour at any particular time, whether that is because of decisions that we have made, or decisions made by other people, or the way that we interact with other people, or because of situations that are imposed upon us, or some combination of these and perhaps other circumstances.

The result of the exposure to which we are subjected throughout our life can therefore determine that, at anytime, we are considered to be at one of the extremes of what we call “evil” or “loving kindness”, or somewhere in between.