סור מרע ועשה טוב

If you pursue evil with pleasure, the pleasure passes away and the evil remains; If you pursue good with labor, the labor passes away but the good remains. - Cicero

כי יצר לב האדם רע מנעוריו

This page is still under construction.

Yes, the quotation from Genesis may be a bit strong, but it certainly explains the situation.

Without a confidant to guide them, people will often show a tendency to choose evil rather than good. That Jiminy Cricket helps people avoid the wrong direction.

This concept is also in line with our thesis that hate is stronger than love.

In our own non-empirical mini-study, teachers were shown the proper way to stack paper into a printer so that it would not jam. The unstated goal was to counteract the routine way of handling equipment that was so rampant in public areas.

We found that – despite the consultation from a computer expert – the teachers pile paper into the printer, helter-skelter. They do not heed the professional advice that was offered to them, gratis. Worse - they will carelessly shove the paper into their own home printer as well, just as they do in their school.

Oh, some saints among us will follow the guidance of the expert. That assures us that we should not use the words "always" or "inevitably" in this article. Others point a finger at that perfect person as an example of they way they do not behave. Yes, some people will do it right if you tell them to do so. Yes, there are some goody-goodies out there. Those exceptions prove the rule.

Others will argue that any advice that is offered gratis is worth what the clients paid for it. Again, that may be correct. The thesis does deserve a more objective study.

However, this principle does explain peer behavior. Left on their own, people will generally follow the weakest element in society.

Perhaps this can explain the rise of neighborhood gangs, Hitler youth, or people who smoke cigarettes or pot - even when they have been told clearly that it is wrong.

Perhaps that is why our Bible is filled with exhortations to choose the proper way of life. Those guidelines are far from obvious. People do not naturally choose the good way of life instead of evil. There is still a very strong need for seemingly obvious commandments, such as "honor thy father and thy mother."

Noah's entire generation was evil. That is not surprising. People were following their natural tendencies. The surprising element is Noah himself, who was good – despite his surrounding environment.

Abraham developed the concept of a single G-d. His belief was surprising and unusual, because he did not follow the default behavior of his neighbors.

Our entire history shows that Man is evil, yet select individuals stood out in their times and selected good.

Others were evil. They and their leaders followed their natural, base tendencies.

The world would be much better if people limited the occasions in which they followed their base tendencies to relatively harmless issues, such as following peer pressure when loading paper into a printer. After all, a damaged printer can be repaired or replaced with a relatively minor outlay.

The default behavior of a generation or of a nation cannot be reversed, corrected, or replaced quite as easily.