Evil is not obvious

They said that the greatest trick the devil has ever pulled was convincing the world that he does not exist. I think that is why it is hard to deal with evilness at times. Most evil people do not have a clue that they are evil. Evil doesn't come up like a flashing beacon, it doesn't happen overnight. No, it creeps and it seeps, until gradually one is turned towards the dark side. Evil is in t

he little acts and acts of omission. It is being autocratic in the guise of being principled; of being sly under the facade of being artful. Evil can be charming, it knows how to appease, it knows how to manipulate the naive and appeal to the sympathetic. Often times that is how good succumbs to the wiles of evil-under the pretense of other virtues. Evil dwells on certainties, and by default prey amongst the insecurities. In contrast, the good is comfortable with mysteries, and lives in a world of wonder and possibilities; good is ready to believe in the goodness of others. Yet that very existence allows the good to be always vulnerable to temptation, to straddle upon the verge of careening slowly in the path of the fallen. For devils are naught but fallen angels.

Thank you

It dawned on me that it has been over 10 years since I left home and be on my own.  Ironically, it is perhaps the longest I have been anywhere.  I have been most blessed that along the way I have garnered the love of many. People who have opened their hearts and their homes to me so that I may never feel the full blunt of homesickness.  To my friends at William and Mary, those within the field of Audiology, my various church families, and friends that go way back, THANK YOU.  To my parents, Godparents, American parent thank you... without your upbringing, your influence I would not have been as "lovable".  I wouldn't have won the admiration of so many others. I can laugh readily, I can forget hurt easily because there is a flame within me that refuses to be dimmed.  A flame started by my parents, fuel by true companionship, oxidized by  friendship and heated by many shared moments.  Thank you.