Marie Roberts, wife of the milkman who murdered five girls in an Amish schoolhouse, explains: "The man that did this today was not the Charlie I've been married to for almost 10 years. My husband was loving, supportive, thoughtful. All the things you'd always want and more. He was an exceptional father." Alas, the Charles Carl Roberts IV was the same man she married. He may have been loving, supportive, and thoughtful, but he was also likely evil, disturbed, and callous. These conflicting traits can be found in the same person.

It's often difficult for one to own up to misdeeds one commits. "It was the alcohol." "I wasn't myself that day." "It wasn't my fault." Et cetera, Et cetera. Assigning responsibiliy to loved ones for heinous acts that they commit may be even more difficult. Admitting a loved one's guilt amounts to admitting oneself a dupe. It also projects the personal relationship that exists between the relatives upon any relationship the malevolent relative has with an outsider. There is the tendency to accentuate the positive. Highlighting a small bit of good can serve to obscure massive amounts of evil. There is also the question of objectivity. It's hard for someone that close to the painting to see the big picture amidst all the small paint blotches and strokes. Even neighbors often react to the arrest of the serial killer next store by claiming him as the most normal man in the world.

Maybe so, but what is abnormal about evil? It's been around since Adam and Eve. Everyone has a capacity to commit acts of evil. Evil may not be the default position of man, but it's certainly not abnormal in the sense that, say, albino tigers are abnormal. What's so hard to understand about a "normal" appearing man partaking in nefarious deeds?

Evil generally doesn't come advertised as evil. It would be helpful if evil people all looked like Freddy Krueger. But they don't. Sometimes they they look like Ted Bundy. Sometimes they look like Bambi Bembenek. Evil people often act like everybody else too--at least most of the time. If a malefactor passes as an everyday brother, husband, or neighbor, that's usually because he is someone's brother, someone's husband, someone's neighbor. They're not putting on an act. Maybe we are putting on an act when we recoil in shock that someone's brother, husband, neighbor did this.

In making all sorts of excuses for our own acts of evil, human beings seem to have no difficulty accepting that generally good people can lapse into moments of evil and still be good. What so many have trouble seeing is that generally evil people can lapse into moments of good and still be evil.

Why can't we get any normal people up there? If it isn't Foley being a freak it's Pelosi espousing ridiculous ideas. The DC set is so insulated from reality anymore that most Americans just shake their heads in wonder and go on about their day. And the world wonders why more people vote on American Idol than in presidential and congressional elections.

Sorry, wrong thread...