full essay here
When I was five, my family fled violence in East Timor, seeking safety in Indonesia. I had my first shocking glimpse of human cruelty. But I've since realized most evil is not so dramatic. It happens quietly, in the everyday actions of ordinary people who see themselves as normal and justified.
This is the "banality of evil," a phrase coined by Hannah Arendt about Nazi bureaucrat Adolf Eichmann. He was no cartoon villain, but a bland man who followed orders thoughtlessly. His story shows how many of us might be capable of terrible things under the right circumstances.
Why do people commit unspectacular, everyday evils? A key factor is the willingness to obey authority and follow the group, even down unethical paths. Another is our skill at rationalizing bad acts and dehumanizing outsiders. We draw circles of who counts as "us," and ignore everyday evils done to "them."
It's an uncomfortable truth, but most of us sometimes fall short of our own ethical standards in small ways. White lies, selfish choices, casual cruelties. They seem minor in isolation. But added up across humanity, they do tremendous harm.
Recognizing this shouldn't drive despair, but engagement. In a world full of everyday evils, everyday kindness and conscientiousness are vital. Volunteer, speak up against bullying, conserve resources, examine prejudices. No single act will fix everything. But each is a small blow for light.
I think of my friend who mentors orphans, the food stall owner who fed poor students, my grandfather the nurse who went above and beyond for patients. Not saints, but people who chose compassion over callousness when it mattered. Their decency ripples out in ways we can't always see.
Everyday evil may never be fully defeated; it's too rooted in human nature. But that's precisely why a commitment to moral vigilance is so important. By striving to be a bit more just, generous, and brave than is comfortable or expected, we can push back the tide. We can't always succeed. But we must try.
Evil thrives in the shadows of our complacency. By endeavoring to live more ethically, we shine light. We say: integrity matters, even in small choices. We declare petty corruption and casual cruelty cannot be tolerated or ignored.
We thus nurture a world where evil, spectacular and unspectacular, has no place to take root. This is how humanity makes real progress. Not through battling supervillains, but through the unglamorous daily choices of regular people trying to be a little better than they have to be.
It is quiet work, mostly invisible in history books. But it bends the long arc of the world towards justice. As Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel said, "The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference." So we must care, even about everyday evils. In ways large and small, we each have chances every day to weaken or renew the web of human decency. It's up to us which path we take.