Evil Is Where You Find It

The question of expediency frequently arises to plague us⎯the question as to whether or not, under pressure of circumstances, and to accomplish seemingly desirable ends, we should resort to things which, ordinarily, we would not do⎯the question as to whether or not evil is to be condoned in some people, and some places, and under some circumstances, and not under others. There has been much written and spoken in justification for employing evil devices with allegedly good motive. But the fact is that evil is where you find it, and making an alliance with it is hazardous even when it would seem to serve good purpose. If evil comes with high credentials, it is still evil. If it is found in places that are ordinarily above reproach, it is still evil. If it affects only one man, or a whole nation, or a whole world, it is still evil. A public lie that deceives millions is fundamentally no different from a personal untruth from one man to another, except that its results are more far-reaching. An official proclamation based on falsehood in any man’s country, is no different fundamentally from a false story whispered over the back fence. A misrepresentation of fact concerning a world problem is basically no different from swindling on a small scale, except that it grows worse according to the greater number of lives it affects. A legal and licensed evil is fundamentally no different from an illegal or unlicensed evil. Evil is where you find it, and it is what it is, no matter where you find it, or who proffers it.  And if we want to live in a world free from it, we must fight it where we find it, without regard to personalities, and we must be equally as wary of it when it comes with high credentials as when it comes with no credentials. On this question, perhaps we can do no better that quote this utterance of Abraham Lincoln: “You will never get me to support a measure which I believe to be wrong, although by doing so I may accomplish that which I believe to be right.” He who makes an alliance with evil for a present advantage is inviting future trouble.