Wajeeha Bilal
The devil has been present throughout history and literary evolution.Stories
about the hostility between good and evil have existed since the beginning of
mankind. The devil is one of the most frequently appearing character in Old
English poetry, and literature, with his attempts to deceive others. Satan and
his demons can take many human forms which defies the typical pitchfork carrying
dude in red. Through centuries, people have tried to predict what devil must
look like; standing red with two horns and a tail, but the truth is that his
actions are not limited to any form or appearance. Whether it is Dante’s
depiction of Hell and its ruler who is a monstrous devil, or Milton’s rebellious
Satan who is banished from Hell, Marlowe’s DrFaustus - the ultimate mankind’s
pact with the devil, or Mark Twain’s Mysterious Stranger that has an ultimate
dark side; the devil appears in a huge variety of books and plays, going by
different shapes and forms, but he still exists to affirm our belief in evil
alongside good. The devil later on became more abstruce in stories and was seen
as something that was within the humans and represented their dark sides. “…the
greatest trick the devil pulled was convincing the world there was only one of
him.”
As long as there are threats and fear of the devil lurking in our society,a
human’s desire to live with peace can never be achieved. One thing that every
human wants is to live with freedom and happiness. Desire for freedom is
overshadowed by our fears; whether it’s the freedom to be able to go out or
exist in a neighbourhood or the freedom to live during a pandemic. The courage
and fortitude of our wish to be free makes it essential to be vigilant of all
the dangers and menace that threaten our existence or those of our loved ones.
The threat of danger is forged upon every individual who dares to live in our
society. Because of these threats, people struggle in the daily battle of
interacting with strangers or raising their children in such a society.
The world that is getting scarier with the spread of a pandemic where it can be
impossible to distinguish the victims from the ordinary; the fear of the unknown
recurs to haunt the hopes of the survivors. On top of that the horrifying acts
of violence rendered by devils in the form of humans exist to haunt those who
had experienced death of their happiness in one form or another. The rise of
another variant of the pandemic has made it more difficult to find peace in
solitude but the fear of evil hiding under deceptive forms threatensour souls
and makes life much more miserable. It is also more confusing and
spirit-thumping,as the enemy could be anywhere or could be anyone at any
time.The devil it is clear can undertake the human form when he wants to deceive
others.
Everyone is shaken by the heinous crimes and their brutal effects that burden
our minds with images of horror and sympathy for the victims. Noor murder case
among other horrifying stories of brutal atrocities and harassment have left the
public with emotional wounds that are deep and intimate and trying to be
comfortable again with others can spark the hidden gashes and the trapped doors
in the consciousness. The souls that suffer and depart the world in pain, leave
behind a tragic burden for those who witness their news. There are injuries to
the mind and heart that are unseen and unaddressed. Whether we like it or not,
good exists alongside evil and it is limited in some way or another. This life
and every battle that we fight is a journey of accepting good and discarding
evil.It is a journey to overcoming disillusionment and restoring our sense of
good versus evil.The reality of the forces of evil lies in their existence and
complexity of how they can be defined.This daily war with the uncertainty of
living in fear is bound to change our focus from form to actions. Lives will
transform if people are held accountable for their actions that are ignored
otherwise for their physical forms do not fit the devil’s outlook.
Amid these scary stories it’s worth remembering that, while we may not have a
better understanding of the devil’s appearance, we can always do and say things
to discard evil. Just like a disease, terror itself is a killer; fearing every
moment and hiding out of fear can never be as satisfying as the feeling of
standing above and against the evil. No one is here to live forever; all we can
do is supportvirtue through our thoughts and actions. And with the evil taking
the human form, the task of standing up against the devil might seem difficult
and scary but it is not impossible.Fear is natural, we are all scared of the
horrifying news and the evil lurking around but when we stand together in
awareness against the felonious acts, then virtue and human kindness would
surely triumph over evil and crime.A tyrant is a tyrant, a crime is a crime and
abuse is an abuse whether physical or verbal, there is no how and why to it, and
we stand against it.
(Wajeeha is author of two books. She tweets @WajehaBilal)