human brutality

Syler, the monstrous villain of NBC’s sci-fi action-drama, Heroes, is a violent, loveless, power-hungry psycho. Throughout the season, he has been portrayed as pure evil--a man without any redeeming qualities. His character is so ruthlessly wicked, that it is easy to think of him as being sub-human somehow and devoid of any natural emotions. But episode 21, “The Hard Part,” reveals some things that shake this classification.

In the episode, Syler begins to feel remorse, not for the horrible things that he has done but for what he believes that he will do. In an attempt to avoid his future actions, he seeks help. He goes to his mother’s house and tries to put his driving ambitions aside. At his mother’s house, Syler seems to be a completely different person. He shows kindness, affection, frustration, a desire for parental approval, and perhaps even love, and you begin to feel sorry for him. I found this greatly disturbing and almost wished that I did not know these things about the character. It was easier to think of him as a monster and not a person. He certainly behaves like a monster through most of the shows, so how could he be a person? And why was this possibility so disturbing?

After I listened to Yinong Young-XuIt’s “This I Believe” NPR essay, “A Potential for Brutality,” I realized that Syler’s humanity was disturbing because it revealed our own potential of violence. Humans all over the world have been and continue to be brutal. People enjoy and celebrate violence and brutality in movies and, in some cases, even in real life. Violence and fear rule the lives of many people, perhaps even the majority of people in the world. When we watch the news, we can see that this is true.

But we comfortably distance ourselves from the violent by labeling them as fanatics (which they are) and by considering them to be devoid of natural affection (which some may have made themselves). Yet these people have mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers. And as to our fallen humanity, we are essentially the same. Our society simply puts more restraints on violence than does their society.

We then are capable of the same brutality. We have the same potential for evil in us that communists in China displayed during the cultural revolution, that gang members and other criminals show in American cities, and that terrorists display throughout the world. Our thoughts can be perverted, and our consciences can be seared. Thankfully, western governments put restraints on people to keep most of us from realizing our violent potential. This keeps brutality in check, but it does not rid you of it. It can not get rid of it.

Violence exists because people are sinful. Christian influence has limited violence in society, but only the gospel can rid a person of violence (and that progressively), because only the gospel can free a person from sin. So when faced with the reality of violent people, we need to recognize our own potential and look to Christ who alone can save us from our own sinful inclination for violence.

navigating life

Watching kindergarten students is quite amusing. When my classroom was arranged differently, there were fewer ways to make it from one point to another. When I would call upon a student to come to the front of the room, he would often choose the most challenging route available to him and then push his way through until he reached his destination. The students chose the hard way because they did not realize that a better way existed. Their ignorance was either due to the inferior perspective that comes with being five and short or they simply chose the first route that came to mind without giving any thought to the efficiency of their steps.

We make poor choices for the same reasons. Sometimes our limitations impede our understanding. This is unavoidable. While God is infinite, we are not. Maturity will improve our situation, but even when fully grown we have limitations and will tend to make poor choices because of our limitations. Thankfully, God reveals His perspective to us, directing us through His word. Unfortunately, we tend to trust our own limited perspective and fail to trust Him. Spiritual growth will help us trust God's revealed perspective. We must work to trust Him more and more, but we will still falter.

If, on the other hand, we choose poorly in life simply because we have not thought things through, we are doomed to continue unabated until we wear ourselves out and give up or until we realize that we have been choosing poorly all along and need to make a change. This type of bad choices is far less excusable. We have the capacity to make a good choice; we simply fail to try. Either way we are left fighting to do what would have been so much easier if we had taken a different route. When kindergartens do it, teachers laugh and tell each other about it. But when adults do it, they hurt people, are unhappy, and resign themselves to doing as little as possible because life is too hard.