Pondering Evil

What is evil?  Selfishness?  Hypocrisy?

Cruelty?  Sadism?  Or Psychopathy?

Does intent matter, or just consequence?

Be warned: this train of thought might get intense.

Consider a selfish theif in the night-

Surely he knows what he does isn't right,

And doing it may cause someone distress;

Is it evil to steal?  I wouldn't say yes.

For this sort of crime is from desperation,

To eat or pay rent in a pinch-pennied nation.

Living is likely our most basic drive,

I don't think it's evil to try to survive.

Is the hypocrite evil?  Let's take a look.

Does being arbitrary make one a crook?

Doubtful; at most, it means you're unfair,

And lends you all the weight of empty air.

Hypocrites tend to live on a horse,

Too high to see when what they say is off course;

Too low to rescind a mistake they may make,

Too prideful with their reputation at stake.

Cruelty, I feel, is misunderstood.

Most of us have caused both pain and good.

Fewer of us intend for the pain,

An unfortunate byproduct, like acid rain.

Ending a relationship might be cruel,

But staying together might make you a fool.

Is cruelty evil?  Not necessarily;

But I think it can be, if you act cruel merrily.

What a nice segway to sadism's heart:

Deliberate cruelty made into an art.

If anything's evil, my vote would be this;

The blackest depths of a moral abyss.

No reason to create pain except for their pleasure,

Sadists see suffering as a great treasure;

They seek it, they cause it, then revel with glee;

Sadism seems pretty evil to me.

As for the psycopath, all I'll assume

Is that she's the most selfish perp in the room.

Guiltless because she the only thing real

In the world she lives in.  The way others feel

Means nothing to her, people are but tools

To accomplish her goals, to help bend the rules.

Is the psycopath evil?  I'll be optimistic,

And say she's incorrigibly narcissistic.

It may be that evilness isn't a trait,

But some combination of power and hate.

Considering there's no undisputed right,

If evil exists, it's not black and white.