What would you do in this situation....

From the song 'Before He Cheats' by Carrie Underwood:

Right now he's probably slow dancing with a bleached-blonde tramp
and she's probably getting frisky,
Right now, he's probably buying her some fruity little drink
'cause she can't shoot whiskey,
Right now, he's probably up behind her with a pool stick
showing her how to shoot a combo,

And he don't know...

That I dug my key into the side
of his pretty little souped up 4 wheel drive,
carved my name into his leather seats...
I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights,
slashed a hole in all 4 tires...
Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats.

Right now, she's probably up singing some
white-trash version of Shania karaoke,
Right now, she's probably saying, "I'm drunk"
and he's a-thinking that he's gonna get lucky,
Right now, he's probably dabbing on
3 dollars worth of that bathroom Polo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaSy8yy-mr8

"Those who forget good and evil and seek only to know the facts are more likely to achieve good than those who view the world through the distorting medium of their own desires."
- Bertrand Russell

Would you steal if you had no money for food (rather than try to obtain assistance, which could be embarrassing)?  Would you lie to get out of trouble?

"Every temptation is an opportunity to triumph over evil."
- Marc Williams

"There is no evil that does not offer inducements. Avarice promises money; luxury, a varied assortment of pleasure; ambition, a purple robe and applause. Vices tempt you by the rewards which they offer."
- Seneca

"What happens when good people are put into an evil place? Do they triumph or does the situation dominate their past history and morality?"
- Philip Zimbardo

"I like to see the difference between good and evil as kind of like the foul line at a baseball game. It's very thin, it's made of something very flimsy like lime, and if you cross it, it really starts to blur where fair becomes foul and foul becomes fair."
- Harlan Coben

Some acts are clearly intentional, some maybe mistakes......

"I have been primarily interested in how and why ordinary people do unusual things, things that seem alien to their natures. Why do good people sometimes act evil? Why do smart people sometimes do dumb or irrational things?"
- Philip Zimbardo

MainMessageForToday
Lots of people cross over to the evil side because of temptation.

From the song 'Waiting to Exhale' by Whitney Houston:

"Sometimes you'll laugh, sometimes you'll cry,
Life never tells us the whens or whys "

https://youtu.be/wrTuV4Szxzo

"For most people, the question why be good - as distinguished from merely law abiding - is a simple one. Because God commands it, because the Bible requires it, because good people go to Heaven and bad people go to Hell."
- Alan Dershowitz

"Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it."
- The Holy Bible (ESV), Psalm 34:13-14

"I don't believe that if you do good, good things will happen. Everything is completely accidental and random. Sometimes bad things happen to very good people and sometimes good things happen to bad people. But at least if you try to do good things, then you're spending your time doing something worthwhile."
- Helen Mirren

"You know that saying, bad things don't happen to good people? That's a lie."
- Tori Amos

"There are good people who are dealt a bad hand by fate, and bad people who live long, comfortable, privileged lives. A small twist of fate can save or end a life; random chance is a permanent, powerful player in each of our lives, and in human history as well."
- Jeff Greenfield

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always."
- Mahatma Gandhi

"I think good things happen to good people."
- Buddy Valastro

MainMessageForToday
A lot of people believe that if you do good, good will be returned to you and if you do bad, bad will be returned to you. In other words, what goes around, comes around.

It is Mashramani in Guyana - a time for celebration and fun. Happy Mashramani Guyana!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashramani

There is a time for hate and war (The Holy Bible, Ecclesiastes 3:8), the question is when......

Song 'Turn! Turn! Turn!' by The Byrds:

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to build up,a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it's not too late

https://youtu.be/eiprqeaydik

"On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time."
- George Orwell, All Art is Propaganda: Critical Essays

Just like his mother, the character Waller/Kunchin in David Baldacci's book 'Deliver Us From Evil' believed in God and attended church regularly, but unlike his mother, he did evil things and led an evil life. As explained in the book, Waller had some interesting thoughts on evil:

His poor mother, good to the last. Yet what she didn't understand about evil, her son clearly did. Given the proper motivation anyone was capable of terrible cruelty, baseless savagery, horrific violence. A mother would kill to protect her child or a child for his mother. A soldier kills to protect his country. Waller had killed to protect both his mother and his country. He was good at it, understood quite clearly the mind-set required. He was not desensitized to violence; he respected it. He did not use it cavalierly. Yet when he did employ it, he couldn't say that he didn't enjoy the process, because he did. Did that make him evil? Perhaps. Would his mother have considered him evil? Clearly not. He killed for his country, his mother, and his own survival. When people struck him, he struck back. There could be no fairer set of rules ever conceived. He was who he was. He was true to himself, while most people lived their lives as a facade only, their real selves buried under a platform of lies. They would smile at their friend before thrusting the knife into his back. Under those parameters, who was truly the evil one?

“If you boil it down, just because someone else does the wrong thing we are not exempt from doing what’s right.”
― E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly

“When someone has been mean to you, why would you want to be good to them? You wouldn't want to. That's what makes it hard. You do it anyway. Being good is hard. Much harder than being bad.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

MainMessageForToday
One of the hardest things is to respond well (be kind or be good) to people who have been mean/bad to you. It is the reason lots of people do evil.

It is Black History Month in the US, a time to celebrate Black achievement and Black lives. Kudos to Black achievement!

Theme for the week 2/21 - 2/27: Doing Good Rather Than Evil, which follows last week's theme Making Wise/Right Choices.