We’re all a villain in someone else’s story. Have you ever thought about that? I have, and I do. Part of my thinking goes back to terrible memories where I’m confronted with this reality; it’s not hypothetical for me. And then the other part of my thinking is dedicated to the people who have offended me, treated me unkindly, talked terribly behind my back, and how I view them as a villain whether they know it or not. People do and say things unintentionally all the time. I know I’m guilty. This is certainly not a wise way to live. The Bible talks about being held accountable for every word we utter, yet it is how we live at times. So it got me thinking, are we as bad as they say we are?
When Hollywood began rebooting the movies and tv shows of yesteryear, I would always gripe at their new versions of the villain. Disney is especially notorious for this, and it all began with, Maleficent. By the end of the film, we greatly empathize with this witch. She was just a victim of circumstances, we now understood. I was frustrated for many reasons, with the most important being that it felt like Disney was muddying the waters of black and white. Good versus evil. There is good, right? Yes. And there is evil, correct? Yep. So how can someone be both? Well, maybe that’s what makes us human.
My wife once said that while I am highly empathetic, I can be very unaware of my impact (for good and bad) on others. In other words, I hurt people and don’t even know it. While I don’t think having empathy for people and then unintentionally hurting people are synonymous, I did take her observation seriously. I can be better. I guess this argument could be further played out by saying, “there are no villains; it’s just a bunch of misunderstood folks.” And if you ask any abused victim, we know this isn’t the truth.
So what now? I don’t conclude that there are no villains. Instead, I have realized we are all villains in some way or another. Hear me out; I’m not saying this levels playing field of evil, certainly not (i.e., a human trafficker is not equivalent to a gossiper), but it does lead us to a path of humility. It allows us the option of forgiveness to those who wrong us, as there are certainly others we have wronged- whether we knew it or not.
Walking humbly is no easy feat. And in this day and age, not being quickly offended is even harder. Remembering the wrong I have done (again, intentionally or not) keeps me from keeping tabs of the wrong done to me. This is not an excuse to be treated poorly by people, it’s an invitation to humbly forgive. We’re all the villian at some point.
-Louis