Badness

“My badness is more manifest than my goodness; you lock up my goodness in the room, and sell my badness in the markets.” (Efik)

This proverb stings. How often do we hear stories about how wicked someone is, how they did someone dirty, and have bad mind? We gobble it up, ne? The problem is that no one is a true villain. The truth is that every single person exists with character flaws and character virtues. However, when we tell the story of another person, do we show them as complex or one-sided? Why are we so willing to believe in the worst in a person? Part of it is that we don’t ask the question: what are you not telling me?

What good has this person done? Be honest. More often that not, the “villain” has a backstory. The storyteller maybe left out that this person tended to them when they were sick. Or comforted them and provided them shelter. Leaving that out is calculated—they hid the good deeds from the public and touted all the misdeeds. Without showing both, a disservice has been done.