In the Presence of Evil
All types of people commit crimes. Some are good people who
make bad decisions, others are career criminals or those who act out
of rage or passion and then, there are the few truly evil people who
take pleasure in the destruction of life.
Have you ever felt the presence of evil? Have you ever come
into contact with someone who for whatever reason made your skin
crawl? Maybe you noticed something scary about their stare and
suddenly that feeling of alarm came over you and you felt the need
to distance yourself from this person.
Our community has recently experienced the presence of such an
evil man and the fear he has left with us.
When such horrifying crimes are committed by one truly evil man,
should we as a community live our lives in fear? Should we stay
in our homes and make only limited contact with society? Should
we never go hiking again in our great North Georgia Mountains?
No, that would only allow evil to triumph.
What is the answer and who do we blame?
As a society we should take off our blinders and see that true
evil does exist, and then take appropriate measures to protect
ourselves, our loved ones and then take additional steps to insure
that justice is served in the case of such heinous crimes.
Our country is good at coming together in times of crisis. Our
citizens immediately start volunteering, providing financial
assistance or praying. We are truly a caring country, but we
are also a people with a short memory. Let us not obsess with
this tragedy to the point that we shrink back in fear of living in
our own community, but let us never forget that evil does exist and
this evil may grow in one man. I don’t want to blame society,
or our “system” for this man’s evil. I place the blame
squarely on the monster that perpetrated such atrocities, not on a
society that may not have given him what he wanted, or on the father
figure he may or may not have had. Many in our society have
struggled through crisis and tragedies in their own lives and as my
dad would say have, “pulled themselves up with their own
bootstraps” without becoming murdering, raping, attacking animals.
Let us put the blame where it belongs, but yes, we should examine
ways to prevent future crimes from being committed. We should
be diligent in watching for known signs of psychotic and antisocial
behavior in others. We should be diligent in reporting crimes
of rage and bizarre behavior. We should do all these things, but in
the end, the one who delivers the violent attack on the innocent is
the criminal, not our society, not our government, not mankind, and
certainly not God.
How do we protect ourselves? I have received several calls
in the past two weeks asking about training in how to stay safe. In
November the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office presented a Safe
Women’s Awareness Program where many in our community attended. This
program provided information on how to avoid dangerous situations,
how to protect against attacks and thefts, and demonstrations on
self defense tactics. Because of the increased interest, we
will again offer a similar class within the next two months. Be
watching for a March event, but in the mean time you can visit www.lumpkinsheriff.com
and access video clips of the last program.
We live in a great and free country, justice will prevail.
