I was entice to post this topic up after watching a very powerful movie called "The boy in the striped pajamas" this movie made what Alisa would say my "juices flowing" it was very stimulating and it arouses deep thought provoking questions. which in turn bought up my question of the good/evil concept. If you haven't heard or seen the movie I highly recommend it, it is actually based on a book so I'm pretty sure if the movie was so interesting I can imagine reading it.

The movie is about a boy whose father is a Nazi soldier. He gets promoted to a general status and moves his family away to the country side where he have to oversee Jewish concentration camps. The movie is really based on the boy Bruno and the story is told from how a innocent child who has no knowledge of what the real war is about or the idea of what a Nazi/Jewish status is. Bruno only knows that his father is a soldier and he is very proud of him. when they move away the camp is behind the house where they are staying which the Mother wasn't aware of. Bruno being a little kid wanders around exploring and come across the barb wires where the camp is. He then see's a young boy sitting behind the gate. As the story develops Bruno and the Jewish boy befriends each other and of course there's more to the story, but I said enough so I don't won't to spoil the rest in case there are people who are interested in watching it

It's a great story where you see the mother struggling to accept what her husband does for a living, where you see the daughter going through her own changes and of course two kids coming from different worlds collide. This brings me back to the point of good/evil concept. You can say that Bruno represented the "bad side" (not him individually) and the Jewish child was the "good" side .

so, which really is it? were the Nazi's really evil? to them the Jews were the evil ones just like the Nazi's are to them. It's true what Alisa says that "whichever side you are on is the "right" side to you, the "good guys". So does that mean the good guys are the bad guys and vice versa?

Many people would have to argue with that especially if they come from a background that has been oppressed take slavery for example. I can see their point of view as well, every time I see a movie dealing with the civil war or the atrocities of slavery I get so mad! of course the "white man" would be the evil ones to them and that goes for what the Native Americans had to go through as well. In many cultures they still view it this way even though it's centuries later. I wonder why it's still perceive like this?

Another issue on the who's good who's evil board is what do you think about rapist? murders? animal abusers? when you read news stories about serial killers or child molesters do you think that they are good people doing evil/bad things? or evil/bad people doing just that bad/evil things?

So if there is really no such thing as good/evil then what do you call killing your own two year old son and chopping him up to stuff him in a bag and pour 400 pounds of concrete on top behind a mobile home? or cutting up your pregnant dead girlfriend after you ate her brains? yes these are real news stories that I read each day on the internet. It seems to me that we are really living in a modern armaggedon. It's so appalling that you now have to watch out for your own husband/Mother/Son etc... to harm you let alone a stranger!!!

where did the concept of evil occur? why do people do these things?

do you think we need both good and bad to balance each other out? (like the dark/light concept)

These views are just my opinions so I hope any of my ramblings didn't offend anyone. I'm just trying to get a take on both sides, so please let me know where your stance is on this subject.

Namaste,
orb