Don't Be Evil

Posted 2 years ago2022-02-03 12:49:59 UTC
satchmo satchmo“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. -- Samuel Beckett”
"Don't be evil" was Google's founding motto.

I watched "Skyfall" for the third time last night, and it occurred to me that all the Bond villains suffered childhood trauma. Some of the trauma were unimaginably brutal (I guess that's an oxymoron, because obviously someone imagined it to fictionalize the background story into the character).

In Skyfall, Raoul Silva was betrayed by his own country, just as Bond suffered a near-fatal friendly fire at the start of the film. The different outcomes experienced by these two characters were determined by their support system. Bond, despite not having any close family ties, had a strong family-like unit at work.

Lyutsifer Safin also suffered unspeakable trauma when he became the lone survivor of an assassination campaign by Spectre. Consequently, he became a ruthless killer and planned to exterminate most of the world's population.

You may wonder how Madeleine Swan emerged unscathed, after she was abandoned by her criminal father and alcoholic mother, and also witnessed her mother's execution. Perhaps she was able to rescue herself by becoming a psychoanalyst.

We are all going through something, and we are all survivors of past trauma. The difference in outcome is how we cope and heal. If we have a secure support system, we can emerge stronger and more resilient. Otherwise, we may live in our own evil lair and plan for doomsday as our personal hobby.

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