“Educating people on how to cope with evil is one element that is sorely missing in our pedagogy system.
So many refuse to even admit to the existence of the dark side.
Knowledge and awareness of the existence of evil should be a required element of both public and private education, from pre-school to adulthood.
While we all may yearn for nothing but sweetness and light in our lives, we will always find one bully trying to beat others down – or, on a broader scale, a dictator willing to kill others to attain his own goals, or a terrorist who believes that the road to heaven is paved with corpses.
Raising awareness of evil is not education for pessimism or for the notion of all-present evil.
Human beings and societies, generally, have many positive aspects as well, and they must not be ignored.
It is a simple fact of life that most people have more good in them than evil.
Even on the national and international level, there are many good intentions for solving the very real needs and problems of the world.
The best way to combat evil is to promote good.
This, too, cannot be accomplished by ignoring evil.
The battle requires an enormous commitment on our part.
We cannot simply sit and wait for a good angel to intervene.
There is nothing wrong with believing that guardian angels keep an eye on us, but we must remember that ultimately we are responsible for most of the work – and from time to time, we can accept a little assistance from the angels.”
From the essay “Good vs. Evil” by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz