Ahmed: Evil and Selfish

It is often difficult to accurately remember exact moments from our tainted and muddled pasts. Our brains, in an attempt to protect us, contaminate our recollections, fading some memories while augmenting others. Therefore, our memories are not a recollection of events as they were, but rather a biased perception of past proceedings. Consequently it is tricky to separate the truth from our reality. However, some memories are true representative of the events they signify, and the majority of such memories are often accompanied by a physical manifestation, a leftover which serves as a salient guardian of truth. The incident I recall left permanent damage on my brother, an injury whose presence can neither be denied nor exaggerated.

I was twelve at the time, and my brother, Wahab, was eight. It was summer time in Pakistan, and we were a bunch of idiots back then. Our days would start with playing cricket progressing onto water balloon fights and ending with a healthy dose of Pokémon cartoons. We used to be friends with a neighboring 9th grader, Ahmed. He had a computer with the latest video games, and he was always up for a game of Cricket. I used to be in awe of him and was happy for the computer and real games of Virtual Cop and cricket. After all, what 9th grader hangs out with 6th and 3th graders? But he was the person responsible for half blinding my brother. In retrospect, what 9th grader does?

That day started as usual, it was a Sunday so we were allowed to sleep in until ten am. Around mid day our neighbor came. I was sitting in the shade of a tree talking to my sister when I looked up to see that Ahmed and Wahab had begun throwing pebbles at each other. I do not remember who started it, but I was soon talking to my sist...

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...tenets regarding sin. Similarly Niebuhr also focused on the selfishness of privileged individuals who refuse to acknowledge the consequences of their actions and are content with the status quo. Commenting from a social perspective on the status quo, he argues that without suffering personal injustice, these groups would never relinquish the status quo, thereby necessitating the need for social conflict. Therefore, in both cases, the evil or selfish man is defined not by his actions but rather by the aftermath of the actions. I am, therefore, content in labeling Ahmed as both evil and selfish.

References:

J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism (New York; MacMillan, 1923)

H. Emerson Fosdick, Christianity and Progress (New York; Fleming H. Revell Company, 1922)

Reinhold Niebuhr, “Idealists and the Social Struggle,” The World Tomorrow, Vol. 15, (1932)