When one looks at the disasters which have afflicted the United States since 1963, one is strongly tempted to see the designs of an evil genius assassinations, riots, Vietnam, inflation, recession, Watergate. Taken together they represent either a string of very bad luck or a plot. Ordinary and mediocre individuals like Hitler and Stalin can seize power and work evil far beyond the strength of their own personalities. The evils of the slave trade still affect the United States more than one hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Caught in a nuclear arms race we pile up tools of destruction which could wipe out humankind many times over.
Good men do evil things out of pride, ignorance, patriotism, fear, or misunderstanding.
Some of our best thought-out social reforms make things worse instead of better. The forces of darkness may not be personified, but they seem to be superhuman. And yet there is goodness. The processes of nature go on, peace follows war, understanding increases, reconciliation is still possible, some problems are solved, some justice is achieved, some ignorance is dispelled. The forces of light are themselves pretty strong.