Introduction
Many people want to live in a perfect world where everyone acts according to morals. However, various obstacles and problems make life much more difficult, and the fact that numerous humans allow evil to control them is the reason why the cycles of evil are challenging to break. Thankfully, although some people do not see how hardship can be positive, it actually strengthens one’s character, and while several faces of evil exist, there are ways that allow for forgiveness and morale to prevail.
The Benefits of Character Development by Learning from Hardship
People can face obstacles and various unpleasant events on a daily basis, and only a few consider such adversities as partly positive. One needs courage, bravery, and the inner strength of spirit to overcome barriers, but precisely such negative situations can develop the mentioned and many other traits. When people face hardship, they learn to take responsibility for their mistakes, act with grace and resilience, and think faster and more effectively, which affects their decision-making (Majiba & Majiba, 2020). Consequently, the person’s character becomes much stronger, and they are able to overcome more severe and negative circumstances. What is more, hardship allows people to develop “a deeper understanding about themselves and how the world works” (Majiba & Majiba, 2020, para. 3). An insightful leader, for example, can reflect after encountering an obstacle, analyze themselves and the challenging situation, draw conclusions, and see the need to become more honest, compassionate, loyal, responsible, reliable, or optimistic.
The Five Perspectives of Evil
It is hard to disagree that evil is not something concrete in general. Evil can take different forms and have numerous motives in various situations, but it has five identifiable perspectives. First, evil can be understood as dreadful pleasure – some dark leaders, for example, enjoy being victimizers and make their employees feel dreadful (Johnson, 2020). Second, evil can be a deception as some weak and cruel persons try to hide their nature and tend to lie to themselves and others.
Third, evil can be in the form of sanctioned destruction when it is allowed or encouraged to attack, discriminate, humiliate, or hurt devalued groups in any other way. Next, evil can merely be one’s choice: numerous people have greater opportunities, and instead of spending them on spreading the good, they prefer to harm others (Johnson, 2020). Finally, it is essential to view evil as ordinary because, in some cases, precisely ordinary people are made to act as harmful or unethical as other individuals or circumstances make them. I believe that the aforementioned five aspects of evil are actually strong motivators, and while it is quite challenging to eliminate them, such an option is still possible.
Ways to Break the Cycle of Evil
Living in the cycle of evil is not hopeless because some practices may allow one to break it. For example, as Johnson (2020) stated, the first step for both the victim and victimizer is to acknowledge the hurt and understand that continuing this path of pain is not the right choice. Then, the person guided by evil needs to admit that their actions are wrong and unethical and see other ways to live in this world and communicate with people. They need to find the motivation for their evil deeds and eliminate it, as well as forgive themselves for acting wrongly (Johnson, 2020). As for the victim, they should also forgive the victimizer and try to feel empathy instead of anger and the need to return evil to the offender. Overall, evil cycles will be broken if everyone finds peace and considers leading a more ethical life.
Analysis of an Unethical Leader
Evidently, the lack of morale can guide not only ordinary people but also leaders. When a leader’s judgments, actions, decisions, and communication methods are controlled by evil or ignorance, such a leader is considered unethical. According to researchers, “unethical leadership is conceptualized as leader behaviors and decisions that are not only anti-moral but most often illegal and exhibit an outrageous intent to instigate unethical behaviors among followers” (Hassan et al., 2022, p. 2). Unethical leaders allow their anger, envy, hatred, and greed, as well as a lack of empathy, compassion, and a desire for justice, to define who they are. As a result, such leaders revel in permissiveness and do not think about the needs and comfort of their subordinates, society as a whole, and the environment, making them unethical.
Ways to Use This Lesson in the Real-World
Overall, this lesson is very useful for one’s everyday life, and I believe that the practice of ending the cycle of evil will actually help me in numerous situations. I have been in various circumstances when people hurt me intentionally or not, and now I understand that it is unethical to allow the desire for revenge to take over. I see the need to forgive people and hope their morale prevails over evil and other negative traits. What is more, the knowledge about the positive effects of hardship will affect my life from now on, and in those situations when challenges and obstacles will make me stressed, I will focus on the fact that they can develop the robust features of my character.
Conclusion
To draw a conclusion, one may say that there are numerous lessons that evil, hardship, and immorality can teach people. The five faces of evil demonstrate that one’s illegal or immoral choices can have different motives, and the analysis of unethical leaders shows the feelings that usually define their actions. Thankfully, the presented ways to combat the cycles of evil can truly make the world more empathetic, accepting, and ethical because people learn to forgive and sympathize.
References
Hassan, S., Kaur, P., Muchiri, M., Ogbonnaya, C., & Dhir, A. (2022). Unethical leadership: Review, synthesis and directions for future research. Journal of Business Ethics, 1-41.
Johnson, C. E. (2020). Combating evil. In Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership: Casting light or shadow (7th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Majiba, N., & Majiba, N. H. (2020). How adversity shapes character. In S. G. Taukeni (Ed.), Counseling and therapy. IntechOpen.