As many would say, Evil comes in many forms and sizes. it has many faces. over the years. I have thought a lot about what is evil. as well as what isn't. for there are many things in life. many would consider evil. while I would simply mark it out as nothing out of the ordinary. There is also this popular saying going around. "Evil is in the eyes of the beholder." which for several years. I myself have gone by. but as time went by. I have come to realize that even this statement is so flawed. that it is to be discarded. because Evil is more then just being a persons perspective against that of another.

Let's put down some simple suggestions of perspectives. and give thought on if it is evil or not.

An Earthquake has happened, many lost their homes, and loves ones within. and some condemn the Earthquake for being a source of evil. hard to phantom. for nature may be cruel. but nature is certainly not evil.

A Teenager mugs a grandma with a knife. Sure a heavy crime, one that shouldn't go unpunished. but without knowing the motive of the act. the act itself can not be called evil.

So what is it that I consider Evil. well. to put it in one word. Selfishness. The act that you do for yourself with no other in mind. All forms of Evil. stem from this. within nature. within animals. within human. There are those that would say. That Selfishness is part of Evil. but I have come to realize. it is the source of it. there is nothing that I have been able to come up with that I would mark as Evil. that did not have its roots in Selfishness. putting oneself before the other. One might argue that group mentality or religious believes also are cause for great evils. but if that is watered down. it is still selfishness. Kill a 100 babies to save 10.000 people. if that was the only choice presented. I would do it in a heartbeat. does that make me Evil? possibly in the eyes of many. does that make me evil in the grand scheme of things. or in my own eyes? Not in the slightest. Babies get many emotions bonded to them. so a loss of a baby is heartbreaking just to hear about. but in truth. a baby is just something that has been alive for 9 months inside a belly, and no more then a year or two on this planet. there is barely a person alive that can remember anything before they were 3 years old. and even the grieving parents. can have a new baby within a year. so is it ethically okay? of course not. but is it evil? if 10.000 people died. among which the parents of the 100 babies. then you have a 100 orphans on your hands. that would take at least 18 years to have babies on their own (by accepted norms). of course. in real life, the option and only single option available of killing 100 babies to save 10.000 people would never come along (hopefully). the choice itself I can't consider evil. for there was also no selfish reason behind the choice. But society will see you as evil till the end of days. because of ethics and emotions. now of course. this is an extreme. so on lighter node.

Things we do every day. that I DO consider evil. and we are all guilty of these.
For just to be able to have bread on our table. I am in believe that we all perform unspeakable evils. and there is but the excuses or illusions that we tell/show ourselves. or in many cases. are being told and shown to us. that hides the evils we perform every single day. Such as the easy examples. Fossil Fuels. we all use it. not just for our cars. but plastic as well. any product that has combustion in its manufacturing process. why is this evil? because of the cause and effect. the cause is. millions and billions of years ago. plants lives. plants died. oil reserves were created. and now. in just the last few hundred years. we found these reserves. and started to drain them dry. but why? because of our selfish needs. there would be no need to offer supply if there was no demand for it, sure. green energy. the 21st century debate. but all that requires manufacturing as well. it won't stop demand for the fossil fuels. just bring it down a few percent. all this really does is extant the limited resource that fossil fuels offer us. not replace it. But we are easy to label this as necessary evil. for it makes our lives so much easier. Selfish I would say. for people from 500 years from now. look back at us with likely labeling the 19th to 22th century as where humans were most greedy. no longer greedy toward each other but greedy for the worlds resources. draining them so that there is almost nothing left 500 years from now. Humans in group mentality is utmost evil. for it can be considered the most selfish beings to have ever existed on this planet thus far. a conscious mind does not even have to do with any of such. it is just our selfish desire to just take and give almost nothing back. I am certain. if humanity. dropped the mindset of looking out for only themselves. be it individual. group or religion. humanity as a whole. then evil would simply not be. it doesn't even have anything to do with free will. because even in the animal kingdom. selfish acts are there. it is what the animal kingdom runs on. eat or be eaten. this concept on its own. I consider evil. but again. an accepted evil. and one I won't go into right now. the law of nature in itself is evil.

There are ways of course. for us to stop being evil. such as.
Stop using anything at all that we can not replenish.
One might be quick to think. Water. can't go without. but Water is a resource that does get replenished faster then we drink it. sure. we use water for many things that it doesn't need to be used for. and cutting down on that. would aid in bettering us. but other examples. nature grows its own seeds. so do trees. and yet. we cut them down. and don't replant them. all because of costs. if this topic picks up. I'll talk about the evil that is money. and greed. but right now. let's just stick to this. where I say. if for each tree cut. a new one was planted. then a new tree would have grown to full size again on the east side by the time the west side of the amazon has been reached. and we as humans can help nature in successfully growing strong trees. so that's two out of the way. Enough wood supply. enough water supply. as for food supply. we already do the right thing. sure people protest against slaughtering animals. but we only eat the animals that were offered life in the first place. Just so we can eat them in the end Evil? possibly. Wrong? not in the slightest. because we make the world a better place for doing it this way instead of hunting the wild till extinction. same story with crops.

So tell me. What is Evil? What are the things you always considered evil while others have not. or things you have never seen as evil. but society does. I wonder what stories you may bring to a topic such as this. What is Evil?

P.S. I know this post has gone all over the place. but its a draft of my thoughts. unfiltered.'
Do I believe if Humanity can shed its selfish nature? most certainly. do I believe it will ever happen? Unlikely. Do I believe that should stop us from trying? Nope. Do I believe I should be vocal about it? Not at all. for all I can do is open a discussion. and see where it leads us.