Evil is evil, and nothing can justify it.
But when I look at what has happened in our region and what is happening around the world, I wonder how ready we really are to stand behind that statement. Especially when evil is committed by someone we support, someone who speaks our language, belongs to our nation, or represents the ideas we believe in.
That’s when explanations emerge. History, circumstances, interests, past suffering—we seize on anything that might help us understand how something came to be, and we use it as a reason why the deed should be accepted.
Behind those explanations lies a human being: a lost life, a destroyed home, a family that will never be the same. Our sense of belonging does nothing to lessen their pain.
And then I look at how we live side by side.
War crimes and workplace injustice are not the same; their scale and consequences cannot be equated. Yet the urge to excuse the misdeeds of “our own” surfaces even in the course of an ordinary day.
When someone is unfairly fired, and we say they must have done something to deserve it. When a colleague is humiliated in front of everyone, and we later explain that the boss was just nervous. When a capable person is passed over in favor of someone’s relative, and we shrug because “that’s just how it’s always been done.” When someone we know wrongs another person, and we ask the wronged person to be more reasonable, to let it go, and not to make a fuss.
How often do we actually seek peace from the one who has been wronged?
We expect them to understand the circumstances, preserve relationships, and be mindful of others’ reputations. The one who wronged them moves on, while the victim is left with the obligation to be careful about how they speak of their own pain.
I wish I could say I’ve always reacted as I should have. I can’t. There have been moments when I’ve remained silent, postponed a conversation, or told myself it wasn’t my place to get involved. That’s why I don’t just ask this question of others.
It’s easy to condemn injustice when that condemnation costs us nothing. It’s much harder when we have to stand before a friend, an employer, a family member, or someone we depend on and tell them they’re wrong.
Yet that is precisely when our values show—when we have something to lose and still refuse to accept another’s wrongdoing.
We cannot fix everything that happens in the world. We can, however, stop looking for excuses for what we clearly recognize as wrong, starting with our own behavior and that of the people closest to us.
An injustice does not become any less simply because one of our own committed it. It only makes our responsibility not to defend it all the greater.
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