"People are strange when you're a stranger". The Doors wrote this song almost 50 years ago. People indeed are strange. But are humans good or bad? This is a theme that has been exploded in hundreds of films, novels and other types of art and literature.
The protagonist is good in any and every situation. The antagonist is evil and wicked in every and any situation. But whose side do the normal people, the general population take? Are people fundamentally good, or fundamentally bad? This is the eternal question.
I believe that people are fundamentally good. But that goodness is buried deep somewhere. It is not on the surface. It is quite rare for someone to do a selfless act of good will.
Let me explain with a few figures. Do bear in mind that these figures are not accurate in any way. Let us consider 100 people as a focus/ test group. In these 100 people, 10 people are fundamentally evil (your rapists, pedophiles, murderers, etc), 5 people are fundamentally good (people who work tirelessly to help the less fortunate, etc). The remaining 85 people are all good people.
Unfortunately though, these 85 people are good, but do not carry out any good deeds. These people are the everyday, ordinary people, like you (probably) and me (definitely). They will do good only when faced with a huge crisis.
In the face of crisis, all the good people (90 of them) unite against the evil ones (just 10). The proverbial victory of good over evil is achieved. What happens, though, when there is no crisis? The 10 wicked ones are constantly winning small battles over the rest of the people on an almost daily basis.
For example, let us consider the situation of rape in India. Every single day, at least there is one news of a woman being raped. Not every case makes the news. So the real figures must be much, much higher.
Are there any measures being taken to stop this horrifying war on women? Nope. There was only one rape case that got national attention and support of the masses. The infamous event in the Delhi, the capital nonetheless, where a woman was gang-raped and subsequently died due to wounds sustained due to the rape.
This particular case got a lot of attention and the rapists were caught and are facing the consequences of their dastardly and horrible acts. The good people united, in the face of a crisis. Imagine if it were so for every single rape case.
Would there still be so many rapes carried out everyday? No.
People are good, but only deep down. But that is not good enough. We need to be good more on the surface. One act of goodwill every year is not helping much.
Please don't consider this as me preaching to you. I admit that I myself have to start being a better person. Together, let us become better people.
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