Briggsy's Quotes to Keep You Grounded #25

briggsy (64)in #life • 7 years ago (edited)

When you dance with the devil, the devil don't change; the devil changes you
-8mm (1999, movie)

This quote is attributed to (or stolen by) a few different people on the internet, but it's from the movie 8mm. Even more strange, the writer of 8mm, Andrew Kevin Walker, didn't have that line in the script and was adamant when the movie came out that he not take credit for it.

I like this quote because it reminds me that who we are isn't just a culmination of our life experience, both good and bad, but also the choices we make that can change us permanently.

But what is good or bad is always a matter of interpretation. Someone stealing a loaf of bread in a marketplace is a bad person right? Well, unless they are trying to feed starving children, and they themselves are sick and unable to work. But then, there's food banks and charity, so why wouldn't they go there instead of stealing?

It's a back and forth dilemma between good and bad, and depending on where we are in life, we can interpret something as bad that someone else sees as good. Even here on steemit the same issues arise.

I've seen people when they were successful be judgmental, rude, insensitive and obnoxious. Then years later they had a run of bad luck, and suddenly they are a spiritual guru, full of wisdom and gentleness, only wishing to do good for others. But money is a funny thing. I've often heard it said that if you want to see someone for who they really are, leave them penniless. But I disagree, because in a sense it is our survival instinct that also dictates whether we are an ass, or whether we are nice. It takes a lot of effort for a wealthy person to be kind and polite and selfless, but it is effortless for a poor person. why is that?

The truth is, all of us at some point will cross a line with someone else out there, and it's often just luck or bad timing that we cross their path and offend or upset them. We might be full and toss part of a sandwich in a garbage, while a person who is hungry watches and curses us quietly. But they too may also cross a line with someone else, and become the offender in the same way at some point.

But the quote isn't really talking about that kind of good or bad.

No, the quote is talking about the choice to do something that goes outside our comfort zone, something that leaves a mark on us permanently. There are choices in life that taint the very essence of who we are, and there's no going back to who we were.

Of course, there's always the classic example of someone joining the army and experiencing war. When they return, a chunk of themselves is gone, replaced with something else. Some soldiers are less affected by what they did or witnessed, while others suffer severe PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder, aka shell shock, battle fatigue, etc.). Others who survive and return home may even lose their mind and murder someone they know while in a psychotic episode. Someone I know that was a marine in Vietnam had his guns taken away years ago, because he would wake up early in the morning and start shooting in his back yard at nothing (and he lives near a downtown area, so you can imagine the chaos that would cause).

But there are other examples too. Many examples. It always starts with a choice, but ends with a part of us being changed, a seemingly good quality replaced with something not so good.

I have been tested on this front personally a number of times. We all have, more than we would like to think. And none of us can say with certainty that we haven't made a choice that has marked us for life. It is after all a part of being human. It is what makes us different from all other life on the planet. We have the choice to be more than an animal.

But there are always extreme cases.

Maybe a person was a victim of physical, sexual or psychological abuse when they were a child, and during the years of abuse they fantasized about getting revenge, permanently. Later on in life it might impact their ability to live a normal life, and they continue to make choices that offer no reset button.

Maybe a person finds their partner sleeping with someone else, and they go into a fit of rage and kill someone.

Maybe you're driving a car and get road rage, and end up running over a pedestrian while you give someone else the middle finger. What if it was your mother, father, partner, or child you ran over?

Maybe someone was born in a rough neighborhood and joins a street gang, trying to prove themselves to their peers, only to end up being another number in a prison block.

I think it is often too easy to forget that the moments in life when we can choose to dance with the devil are not always easy or obvious, but can be in the heat of the moment as well, when we are emotional and hurt. But each time we make the choice to go down the darker path, it gets a little easier each time we do; we always mirror on the inside what we do on the outside. It is part of our survival toolkit embedded in our DNA. We are creatures with an amazing ability to adapt to our environment, no matter how strange or bizarre the circumstances. Just ask people in Germany who experienced WW2 (if there are any left still alive); it is a mark left on a nation that is still there almost a century later.

It is so easy to go down the dark path in life, sometimes we can do it without realizing we are. Like someone taking a thin slice off a full loaf of bread, we don't notice that anything is missing. Every day a thin slice is removed, but we don't notice. Then one day we suddenly notice that half the bread is gone, but it is too late.

When we dance with the devil, we are the ones who change; it is who we are. It is the very essence of what it means to be human.