Which Will You Choose?

What is this fascination humanity has with monsters? This idea of good and evil and how the apparent monster is really good and the unapparent monster is the one who is evil. How many people have asked the question, “what makes a monster and what makes a man,” but what really is a monster? We see a man on tv rape and kill a hundred men and women and we call them a monster, but they call themselves a tragic hero. A war survivor comes home with torturous memories of killing man after man and calls himself a monster, but we call him a tragic hero. So what does make a monster? The actions of destroying life alone? Or must awareness come with it? Is it society’s job to label one a monster or is it the job of the man himself. Some might say that it does not count if you cannot help it, the soldier was simply following orders so clearly it is not his fault, but the serial killer has a dysfunctional brain that makes killing the only option for satisfaction. Does he really have a choice. So maybe we’re all just good soldiers following orders whether those orders come from a general or a broken brain or the bottle or the screaming of pain in the neglected. So does that make us all monsters?

We generally see monsters as those differing from the norm. Frankenstein’s monster and Mr. Hyde and Count Dracula were some of our very early monsters. Abominations of humanity that killed because that was all they knew how to do. Mr. Hyde was literally the epitome of the evil side of a human. Count Dracula killed because he needed to survive. And Frankenstein’s monster was tortured and neglected by his creators and became consumed by revenge. But they were monsters because they killed. They were not “normal” humans. So am I not a monster because I have not killed? Not in reality, but in my mind I have killed plenty. I have lost who I am in my daydreams. Am I capable of killing? Quite possibly. I would like to say of course not, but when pushed far enough any human could take the life of another. Monsters live inside of us all. Maybe that is why we are so obsessed with the idea. It is a part of humanity that we like to bury in ourselves, but bring about in other people. We are fascinated by our ability to ‘turn evil’ and yet we refuse that we as individuals will ever become such a thing. That man over there killed thirty people so he’s a monster. That woman slept with twenty men and now they have STD’s so she’s a monster. That kid brought a gun to school and killed several of his classmates so he’s a monster. Yet just because you have never taken the life of another human does not mean you have never killed.

What constitutes as killing? Taking a life. Life does not just mean the proper working of the body, it means the workings of the mind as well. How many times have you made fun of someone for something they wore or they said and made them feel bad about it? That is taking away a part of their life because now they feel like they will be attacked if they show it. How many times have you said no to someone because they had a different color skin or different genitalia or different ideas about the universe and who made it? That is taking a life because you are telling them that what they’re made of and what they believe in are not good enough to exist. How many times have you wished someone ill or tried to get revenge because of something someone did to you? Frankenstein’s monster got revenge on his creators. He killed them. You are killing those people in your mind. And the thing is, everyone does it. Nobody's infallible against the people we cannot stand. So is everybody a monster?

No.

Monsters are merely a concept created by humanity to lay blame on others and avoid facing our own shortcomings. Monsters do not exist. Only the blundering, hopelessly arrogant complication that is humanity. We are all capable of evil. But we are also all capable of good. So which will you choose?