When I was growing up, I had lots of theories. One was that all people were good, and that when they were doing things that society called bad, it was because they were either 1) misunderstood, 2) mentally or psychologically compromised, or 3) dealing with insurmountable challenges that sort of justified their wrongdoing. Therefore, these people couldn't really be held accountable for their acts. In college, I learned that my theory has a fancy name: moral ambiguity.
I believe differently now.
I now believe that some people do not mean well, that they do not have good intentions, that they intend to lie a little, cheat a little--or lie a lot and cheat a lot--take advantage of well-meaning innocents... to get what they want. They may not be psychologically sound, and they may have terrible histories, but this does not relieve them of culpability. Every person is given a life of choices.
On the radio the other day, I listened to a prize-winning physicist explain that, according to his findings, we are all products of our atomic make-up. What's more, he said, is that not only do we have nothing to do with the people we are/become and the choices we make, but there are infinite worlds in the universe EXACTLY like ours with EXACTLY the same things/people/thoughts/chips in the fingernail polish that occur in our world. According to him, there are countless dopplegangers of you in the universe--doing exactly what you're doing, thinking exactly what you're thinking, with precisely the same history as yours.
Theories are sometimes ridiculous. His theories are ridiculous to me, anyway. I can wrap my mind around them to see how he arrives at these conclusions, but they are ridiculous.
