Yesterday I sat for hours in the halls of Los Angeles County Family Court while giving support to a friend there for her grandchildren since they were being removed from their mother’s custody. The halls were full, with just about every seat taken. I looked at the people, ordinary faces, no great anything stood out, no great beauty, no great ugliness, they looked as ordinary as any group could. Yet, some among them were offenders, had abused or neglected children. Others were there like us picking up the pieces and taking care of the children others had in some way hurt. The thing was, it wasn’t possible to tell who was who. Looks alone didn’t give any clue.
Today I read an article about Kaing Guek Eav, a 67 year old former Khmer Rouge member known as Duch who had been in charge of a notorious Phnom Penh prison and who is being tried for his crimes. The author compared him to Adolf Eichmann, the former Nazi put on trial by Israel in the 60’s, since both were not only ordinary people, they also looked ordinary.
What it all said to me was that evil may look ordinary, and that’s something many already know, but what we often forget is that good too looks just as ordinary.
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