“…many people today have become so deluded that they can’t even agree on what is evil. The lines between good and evil are blurred by people’s self-centered desires” (Salley). As Mark Salley says, people define evil based on their own self-interests. I have experienced this first hand. Being Jewish, I have experienced a lot of hate throughout the years of my childhood. I have witnessed horrible things from hate crimes to anti-Semitic remarks, and I consider this to be evil. Obviously there are people in this world who do not feel as I do. Privately controlled websites online prove that there are people who do not feel that it is evil to act upon their hatred for Jews. This is just one example of the discrepancy between what is and isn’t considered evil. Another experience that I had with what I would consider evil was in elementary school. There was a child who had a disease that inhibited his growth (I will call him John). As a result, John was always picked on and tortured. As John grew up, he developed such an animosity towards his peers that he basically shut himself out from the rest of his classmates. I consider this to be evil. People torturing others because of a difference in height are not only mean, but can be blamed for possibly changing a person’s life. Because of the ignorance of a number of elementary school kids, John was not given the opportunity to lead a normal elementary school life.

While I do feel that anti-Semitic remarks and children making fun of others can be considered evil, I do not feel that it is justifiable to kill any person who merely makes a mean remark. This is another flaw in the plan executed by the Saints. Evil can have several different degrees. Nothing is black and white. Everything has a different shade of gray, and the concept of evil is a prime example. A kid in high school who says something rude to a person of a different religion does not deserve to be killed. A young child in elementary school does not deserve to be killed because of a comment made to a shorter child. However, I do believe that a person who kills another person because of religion should be killed in return. The varying degrees of evil make this plan a very difficult one to carry out. The only way that this plan can be executed properly is by creating a line between what can be condemned by murder and what cannot. This is very similar to the death penalty today, in which extremely serious crimes can be punished by death. I believe that the death penalty is a sufficient modus operandi, but should become stricter. People should be put to death for crimes other than the assassination of a political figure. Rape and arson as well as other heinous acts should fall into this category as well.

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