Thought Store

We all have heard of phrases such as: “Good eventually triumphs over evil” and “Evil no matter how strong will one day get defeated” etc. And we have been hearing these since our childhood. So much so that this belief of ‘good always winning’ is firmly ingrained in our psyche.

But how come we all have bought this idea? We just need to observe a little and ask a few questions to find out.

Ever wondered why the Hero in every movie, who happens to be a good and righteous person always wins against a villain who is more powerful (and rich)?

How come our protagonist singlehandedly (or sometimes with a little help from his comrades) manages to take down an evil empire with massive resources at its disposal?

Through wits, skills, but almost certainly because the hero fights for good.

I have rarely read a book, story or watched a movie where in the end it’s the hero who loses. Even if he does, there is always a sequel to that story coming up because deep down we all know for a fact that the story is not over until “The good” wins.

We want the good to win

Let’s be honest here. None of us (unless you are some kind of psycho) wants evil to win. We always root for the hero because we know that he is right and his victory will save lives. We hope that Tom cruise will run fast enough and make it in time to prevent a nuclear annihilation of the human race.

This kind of thinking is morally correct and serves its purpose of teaching some right lessons to the masses. Of course, people want to be more like their heroes: doing good, being righteous, fighting evil etc. and eventually winning in their endeavors. Overall this belief helps the society in general. Until it doesn’t. (Why? because life’s not a movie.)

Life is not a movie

In reality, you can be the most righteous person in the world and still lose. We hear so many stories in the news about corporations making huge profits at the expense of the poor, gangsters violently taking innocent lives and dictators oppressing their people into submission. But why does it happen? Even when a lot of righteous people are fighting against it? Why is ‘the good’ not winning here?

To find the answers, we need to get out of fiction and take a good look at History, because there the stories are real and unlike fiction there is no objective good and evil.

Examples From History

Rome

Rome was an extraordinary civilization that dominated the ancient world and surprisingly managed to survive for more than 2000 years.

Despite all its achievements, Rome was not necessarily a force for good, some would argue it was more like the opposite. It even fits into the template of an evil empire. It ruthlessly expanded, killed, enslaved and conquered vast territories and its people. Then why did this evil state kept winning for so long? Not because it was good, not even because it was superior in some way.

Long before it was a superpower and since it’s initial days, Rome was infamous for its dogged persistence even in the face of overwhelming odds.

When fighting against much superior enemies, their armies would be completely decimated after each battle. Yet, they would always refuse to surrender. Every time they lost, no matter how bad, they raised another army and fought again. This they did over and over as “Surrender” was not an option for the romans. Eventually they would always wear out their enemy and come out on top.

One greek King “Phyrrus” who had a much superior force in terms of troops and military technlogy, after completely defeating two roman armies in a row was waiting for Rome to sue for peace, but instead when he saw a third roman army coming, he packed and fled. He could not afford another victory.

Eventually, Rome kept winning not because they were a force for good but because they persisted longer than their adversaries.

America

It may be surprising to know that during the entire American Revolutionary War, General George Washington lost more battles than he actually won. His rag tag army of volunteers was no match against the British, who were the most powerful military of the time.

Most battles ended in a total disaster for the Americans, They knew that each battle could be the last for this army and for this infant republic. But after every defeat, Washington would always manage to regroup his troops and escape just in time to avoid capture.

The soldiers persisted without food and proper supplies through extreme cold, some even marching in snow without shoes. But always improving and coming back stronger.

Washington’s greatness was not in being a military genius but in keeping the army alive to fight another day. Eventually the British, even though a superior force, ran out of money and will to fight.

Years later when the US as a superpower came to invade small countries like Vietnam and Afghanistan, had to go back defeated as their vast resources could not break the persistence of the people of these countries.

Current Affairs

When Donald Trump lost the 2020 elections he lost everything, He was disgraced by his own party and had enough lawsuits to imprison him for life. Now this guy in his late 70s could just have just retired from public life and lived the rest of his days peacefully.

But in his mind he never accepted defeat, He waged a ruthless campaign, with his lies and his overconfident demeanor, he claimed to have a solution to all the world’s problems. And eventually convinced a whole nation to elect him again.

Within a span of a few years he had won everything back, not because he was just or good but he was relentless and more persistent than the other party. Now Trump winning has not proven to be a good thing for the world, more like the opposite. But no matter how much hated he is, you have to agree he is extraordinarily persistent. And that’s why he wins.

Conclusion

If we can conclude one thing from all these examples, it would be that good does not win by default. But the persistence almost always does.

If we want good to win, we have to understand that being on the right side is not enough.

We need to be ready to struggle and out persist the evil. The real life Hero’s superpower is persistence not righteousness.