OF VICTIMS AND VILLAINS. Why is it universally so that human beings would rather be victims than villains? Talk to two opposing parties — whether these opposing parties be quarreling countries or quarreling siblings or spouses.  Ask the two parties to give a tally of their actions.  On paper, their actions will likely seem identical.  Both of them have likely been: Selfish. Thoughtless. Judgemental. Dismissive. Violent. Hurtful. Unconscious. Manipulative. Untruthful. Conniving. Expedient. Prideful. And yet, ask either of them how they perceive themselves in this conflict, and almost without exception, both of them will declare themselves the victim in the conflict. Where are the villains of the world? Why is it that we human beings never seem to have the capacity, the caliber or the clarity to declare ourselves the villain in the story of another?  How is it possible that everyone is a victim in their own story without ever being the villain in someone else’s story? Who has established this virtue that being a victim is better than being a villain? Where has this notion taken place that in an ideal world and in ideal human relating, there would be no villains at all? Do we really want a life in which nobody has ever played the villain in our story? Do we really want a life in which we have never played the villain in someone else’s story? Why has the villain in us so throughly been pushed into our shadow? ********************************* 3 CONTRIBUTIONS MY VILLAINS HAVE MADE TO MY LIFE 1.  My villains were strong.  By pushing me down into the mud and forcing me to get up again, they rendered me stronger. My villains showed me where I was sitting fat, dumb and complacent.  They raised my game.  They tested my fences and showed me where I had stalled in life. My villains pushed me to increase my power so I could overcome them. My villains pushed me deep into my victimhood so I could eventually feel revulsion at my state of victimhood and claw my way out of it. 2.  My villains invariably had qualities and virtues and powers I did not posses at the time they victimized me.  They had bigger range over the game of life than I did.  They showed me what else was possible in human embodiment. They beat the sleepiness and naiveté out of me.  They gave me a sharper connection to reality and to human nature.  They made me shrewder and wiser.  They were not teachers I had chosen, but the education I received at their hands was invaluable. They may not have stepped up to be my mentors, they may have only showed up to victimize me, but through them I acquired strengths, powers and masteries I would not have otherwise. 3.  My villains have made my life interesting.  Subtract the villains of my life from my life and I don’t even know what remains.   The challenges they hurled my way constitute the best stories of my life. My antagonism and battles with them have been the most engaging and thrilling portions of my story. While engaging with my villains, my life was many things, but never boring.  Without the engagement with my villains, my life would have been downright insipid. ********************************* 3 SHADOW PIECES THAT EMERGE FROM ELEVATING VICTIMHOOD OVER VILLAINY: 1.  Those who are determined to play the victims will manufacture villains out of others. 2.  Those who clearly are villains will camouflage themselves as victims. 3.  The sympathy and resources we reserve for victims attract lying parasites. *********************************I am myself indifferent honest but yet I could accuse myself of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me. I am www.OmRupani.org