There is an old poor man….

Oppressed with two weak evils,

Age and hunger.

— Shakespeare

PEOPLE often misquote the saying when they cite that money is the root of all evil. Actually the correct quote is, ‘The love of money is the root of all evil.’ It’s taken from the Bible and has been misquoted for centuries. But is that really true, is the love of money the root of all evil?

I’m pretty sure that there are other factors involved that can rival that. After all, money was not always here, but evil has been in existence forever. Let’s take that quote above, for example, where it says that age and hunger are two evils of that old man. They both make him suffer.

Age can be evil, as it does so much harm and devastation to people who were once young, lusty and robust.

“Look how the big man pop down! Old age mash him up.”

As for hunger, there are few things that are as evil as hunger, and the old saying, ‘A hungry man is an angry man,’ is true.

Evil comes in all forms and mankind has carte blanche on it, cornered the market, has it locked, for animals aren’t evil. Sure, a beast will kill, but not for sport, for food. Well, there are some exceptions for we have some murderous dogs in our midst that are pure evil; and that ain’t no bull as they are the pits.

They should be thrown in the pit of hell as far as I’m concerned, but that’s just me. Speaking of hell, do you know who guards the gates of the fiery dimension, Hades, in Greek mythology? It’s Cerberus, the three-headed dog.

But let’s get back on point to the root of all evil, which is certainly not just the love of money as we’ll find out right after these responses to ‘Adultery is hell’.

Hi Tony,

Not to boast, but in my long married life I have never strayed from my wife. However, being the red-blooded Jamaican that I am, I have looked at and admired other women in the biblical sense, and according to Pastor Henry, I am destined to hell. I am not a biblical scholar but I do believe the Bible preaches repentance and forgiveness. Lord have mercy on me.

Simon

Sir T,

Jesus was a unique revolutionary who called us to righteous living, which is not only expressed in right behaviours, but in godly transformations of the thought and intents of our hearts and character. His standards are humanly unattainable. However, through repentance of sins, faith in Christ and daily submission to His spirit, we may live righteously,

Love,

David H

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men…the Shadow knows. That line was taken from the old comic book and later TV series and movies, The Shadow. He was a sort of dark crime-fighter who preceded Batman. But oh, if it was so simple that evil could be so easily detected by others. The truth is, evil comes in all forms, and it was Shakespeare who penned, ‘The devil is a gentleman.’

The Bible also says, sometimes Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

What initiates evil anyway, what is the root cause and what perpetuates it? Well, the most popular catalyst is the love of money which has been bandied about for centuries. Ah yes, cash, dinero, gold, moolah, lucre, comes in many forms and goes by many names, but the love of it is universal.

Interestingly the word lucre almost always has the word filthy placed before it, as in “He got his filthy lucre from swindling people.” Then there is ill-gotten gain — negative descriptions about the acquisition of money. Without this love for money, gold, and now cyber and cryptocurrency, so called decent and honourable people would not show their dark side.

There are so many cases of once seemingly decent bank employees, lawyers, board members, turning evil just because of the love of money. Or were they evil before but suppressed that state, waiting like a sleeping viper until the opportunity presented itself and their true venomous selves emerged?

It’s bad enough when the evil manifests itself and they steal from an institution, but when that thief severely impacts the lives of others, then that’s pure evil. When that lawyer swindles poor prospective homebuyers out of their deposit, that’s evil. When that bank manager robs from the accounts of old people, that’s evil. When the scammer bilks those old folks out of their life’s savings, that’s unadulterated evil.

They all stem from one thing, the same bubbling primordial pool, the festering sore, the genesis of desire — the lust and love of money. Even so, there are evils spawned from other sources. One is envy. We call it red eye or the desire for things belonging to other people. There is also badmind, where people will simply wreak havoc on others because they are angry that the person has achieved more than they have.

This has resulted in the destruction of the one who is envied, as the hate perpetrated and perpetuated upon them is so severe it’s almost unimaginable.

“Why you hate the man so much, him nuh do you anything?”

Evil spawned by envy.

Don’t hate the man because he owns a big house, drives a fancy vehicle, has dashing good looks and a beautiful wife. Yet, those very same things have managed to bring out the evil in other people, making them do heinous things like destroying what that person has.

“Imagine eh, him kill the man and burn down his house just because of envy and badmind.”

Another root of evil is love. Now, this may seem to be a contradiction in terms, smacking of irony, devoid of logic, bereft of reasoning, for how can something as beautiful as love be the source of evil?

Well, it does when that love becomes so all-consuming that it blinds the people who experience it, making them swell into a murderous rage as they stew, simmer, boil then explode with this love for another person.

“Please don’t love me so much, I really can’t manage it.”

I have heard these terms so often:

“I love her so much I would kill her if she leaves me.”

“I love you to death, I would die for you.”

“I love you so much, I feel as if I’m going to explode.”

I told you that it was contradictory and illogical. The fact is, if that love didn’t exist in such a powerful form, that feeling to do evil would never have entered the picture, forcing them to do such evil deeds.

We see it play out in the news with murderous and macabre regularity. Is it love that is the driving force, or raging passion that fuels this evil? Maybe it’s a combination of both, an amalgamation, a conflating of the feelings. Whatever it is, it’s the beginning of evil.

Which brings me to the greatest accelerant of evil known to man — the vagina. Nothing brings out more evil thoughts over the centuries than the vagina. It has caused wars — great and small. It has fomented discord and evil and created mayhem of indescribable and incalculable proportions. It has divided families, pitted brother against brother, brought down empires.

The vagina has turned otherwise meek, mild-mannered men into personifications of evil that make people remark, “Is must the devil take him why him act that way.” Take away the vagina and that person would not be brought to the brink of evil and overflow into a demonic rage.

If the woman had no vagina or it was non functional due to medical reasons, he would not have that feeling of lust, passion or love to lavish on her. So the logical conclusion is, it’s the vagina or more specifically the love of the vagina, that is the root of all evil.

I dare anyone to say otherwise, for history has proven that the vagina, and the attendant love for that organ, has proven to be the root of all evil. Men will kill for it, including killing themselves too, as the evil is all-consuming. And even when you combine all the other loves — the love of money, love of other people’s possessions, love of other men’s wives — it all leads back to one common denominator: the vagina.

Many men love it so much that they think that they own it, but in this case, possession is not nine-tenths of the law. In fact, they have no possession but merely a lease arrangement until the next man takes up occupancy.

So all that love of money is merely a pathway. The man will love the money, to get to the vagina; he will covet your wife, to get to the vagina. Take away the vagina and he has no interest.

So as crass as it may sound, the root of all evil is the vagina, or specifically, the love of the vagina, and that’s an open and shut case.

More time.

seido1yatd@gmail.com

Footnote: It was so wonderful to visit Port Royal last weekend and enjoy some great seafood at the famous Gloria’s outdoor restaurant. Not only was the food outstanding, but just the experience of being among people dining on the open street side area was so great. People really are social animals. That being said, let’s not forget that the pandemic is still here and we must continue to observe all the protocols.

On another note, I see where the Olympic authorities are now allowing transgenders to compete with other athletes. So someone born male can switch to female and compete against females. And yet they barred South African Caster Semenya from running with females, even though she was born female.