I have been thinking about evil lately.

Not in the fun way — not in the “rolling a D20 to see if my paladin smites the lich” way. In the real way. The kind of thinking that keeps you up at night and makes you want to throw your phone into the ocean. The kind where you look at what is actually happening in the world and you have to sit with the fact that evil is not just a concept in a fantasy novel. It is a thing that exists, and it is happening right now, and most of us are doing everything we can to not look directly at it.

Because looking at it is hard. Looking away is easy.

I think that’s the thing that gets me the most. Evil is hard to define. It’s even harder to accept that it truly exists. We want to believe that people are basically good, that systems will self-correct, that somebody somewhere has this handled. Despite evidence to the contrary, we as a people tend to look away. Because it is easier. Because looking at it means you have to do something about it or live with the fact that you didn’t.

The current leadership in the United States is evil. I don’t say that lightly and I don’t say it for shock value. Between the greed, the crimes, and the hateful rhetoric, what is happening right now is not a difference of political opinion. It is a slide down a path that history has shown us before. We know where this goes. We have seen it. We have museums dedicated to making sure we never forget, and here we are, watching it happen in real time.

The part that keeps me up at night is the gaslighting. We are living in a post-truth world. There is no longer an expectation that our leaders tell the truth. There is no accountability for lying. And when there is no consequence for lying, why would they bother with the truth? The truth is inconvenient. The truth makes people angry. Lies are easier to sell and easier to swallow.

And the media — the media that is supposed to be the check on power, the fourth estate — is letting it happen. Coverage is suppressed or buried or just not covered at all. It’s almost like billionaires controlling all the media is a bad thing. Actually, it’s almost like billionaires are a bad thing. But I digress.

Let’s get back to evil.

I have read a lot of books about good versus evil. That’s not unusual for someone who reads as much fantasy and science fiction as I do — the battle between good and evil is basically the load-bearing wall of the genre. When I was a young fantasy reader I devoured Dragonlance novels. Stacks of them. One of my favorites was the Chronicles series, and in Dragons of Winter Night there is a quote that has lived rent-free in my brain for decades:

It is written in the Disks of Mishakal that evil, by its very nature, will always turn in upon itself. Thus it becomes self-defeating.

This has always struck me as true when I look at history. Evil — the kind of evil that allows people to dehumanize other people, to traffic people, to kill without consequence — is ultimately only out for itself. It cannot create anything meaningful. It can only destroy. And because it can only destroy, eventually it destroys itself.

The problem is everything it takes with it on the way down.

While evil is busy eating itself alive, it is very easy to look the other way. Or worse — to join in, because it feels safer. Because it’s easier. Because the people in charge are loud and confident and they make it sound like they’re winning. That is how evil wins. Not because it is strong, but because good people look away. Because good people join in because it’s easy. And every person who looks away or goes along with it adds to the suffering that happens before the inevitable collapse.

One of the hardest parts of living through this is how easy it is to fall into hate. Hate is a powerful emotion. It feels righteous. It feels justified. But nothing good has ever come from acting out of hate. Nothing. And this is the struggle I keep coming back to: how do you fight evil without becoming hateful yourself?

Through kindness.

I know. Just sit with that for a minute.

Kindness doesn’t mean you let people off the hook for their actions. It doesn’t mean you accept what they are doing. It doesn’t mean you roll over or shut up or play nice. It means you don’t become them. Because they kill doesn’t mean you kill. When they lie, you don’t lie. When they dehumanize, you hold on to your humanity with both hands and you refuse to let go.

This is the harder road. It is not easy and the only reward is knowing that you didn’t sacrifice who you are in order to be right. That’s not a satisfying reward. It doesn’t feel like winning. But it’s the only path that doesn’t end with you becoming the thing you’re fighting against.

Everything is impermanent, even war. It will end some day. Knowing that, we could continue to work for peace. — Thich Nhat Hanh

This is what I will continue to do. I will continue to work towards peace. I will try to have compassion for those who have been lied to and led down a path toward evil — not because they deserve it, but because compassion is the thing that separates us from them. I invite you to do the same. I know I will not always be successful. I know I will fall into anger. I know there will be days when kindness feels impossible. But I also know that I will always have a choice in how I act, and I hope I will choose kindness.

Stay safe and remember that we are all people.