The 1.3 Kilogram Blob

I was thinking about the recent terrorist attack on the aircraft coming from the Netherlands to Detroit, Michigan. What makes some humans willing to blow up a plane with 250 people on it, including themselves? And even more amazing, what makes a human willing to strap highly flammable explosives to their groin and then ignite it, with a significant risk that instead of exploding, it will burn like hell when ignited (as happened in this case)? I can’t speak for anyone else, but I would just as soon keep fire away from that part of my body, or from any part for that matter.

I guess the answer lies in that 1.3 to 1.4 Kilogram blob of tissue hiding in our skull, otherwise known as our brain. It just doesn’t make sense to me that some people are so prone to hatred, to violence, to murder and mayhem, while others give in to doing good, to helping others, to trying to better the world. Maybe God can understand why this young man’s brain was so badly wired, but I sure can’t.

The people I associate with tend to be on the positive side of things. People that help others, that want to make the world a better place. Every day, although it never makes the news, people do incredibly good things. People are providing humanitarian services to refugees and impoverished people, often at tremendous risk and sacrifice. People are working to cure diseases, building housing for the poor, working on solving environmental problems, and providing medical services and food to those in need. And so many people, to use Team in Training people as only one small example, sacrifice their time to raise money for good causes. I could go on and on.

It is sad that so many of our species use our amazing brain, which would look like a big grayish blob of goo if we could see it but which puts the most advanced supercomputer to shame, for such horrible purposes as that young Nigerian attempted – on Christmas day no less. I don’t get it. Each of us can use our brains to choose to do good or evil, or I suppose to do neither. We all have the same basic circuitry in our brains. I wonder what makes the difference, why so many in this world are told by their incredible brain to hate and do evil. I guess I am grateful that I don’t understand it.