7 & 7: Good vs. Evil

REFLECTION:
That there is goodness in this world is undeniable. That there is evil, capable of taking root to branch and multiply with breathtaking speed and by surprise is equally the case. But little candles throw great beams, and light enlightens, while sins cast long shadows. We and our world are both evil and good. By our deeds you shall know us. All the learning, earning and yearning can’t replace a moment’s hesitation or justice withheld in the face of evil. Tyranny, poverty, disease – there is more than enough to battle to prove our inner worth. Though it’s useful to remind that the knowledge and power that accrues can always be turned upon ourselves. That we possess a conscience does not assure its use. But it can be stirred by the universe and the belief that we all have a right to be here among the trees and stars. Amid the noisy confusion people do somehow find peace inside, and dreams of a beautiful world, and a confidence (sometimes shaken but never withdrawn) that injustice is a two-edged sword and given time justice will prevail.

MUSES:

I am as bad as the worst, but, thank God, I am as good as the best.
Walt Whitman

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the roots.
Henry David Thoreau

How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
William Shakespeare

All sins cast long shadows.
Irish proverb

He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Jesus Christ

By his deeds we know a man.
African Proverb

There are three ingredients in the good life: learning, earning and yearning.
Christopher Morley

Three things are good in little measure and evil in large: yeast, salt and hesitation.
The Talmud

Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.
St. Augustine

Now the trumpet summons us again – not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are; but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, ‘rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation’, a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.
John F. Kennedy

The genius of Einstein leads to Hiroshima.
Pablo Picasso

A man’s vanity tells him what is honour; a man’s conscience what is justice.
Walter Savage Landor

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Max Ehrmann

Injustice never rules forever.
Seneca