Good vs. Evil

The classic superhero story is a good guy (the hero) versus the bad guy (the villain). In these stories it's normally obvious which one is which, but in life it really isn't that simple. Haven't you ever misjudged a person? Thought they were bad when they were really good or vice versa? Humans aren't perfect and everyone knows that, but then why are we the ones who get to determine the good from the evil? In Justice League season 1 episodes 3 & 4 "In the Blackest Night" this question is raised while the Green Lantern is on trial for blowing up an entire planet and destroying millions of lives. During the trial, Green Lantern is asked how he determines who's a villain and who isn't. Green Lantern says that it's just a feeling he gets. Us mere mortals would call that feeling our "gut instinct." However, we later learn that the Green Lantern was chosen by the Guardians because he was worthy enough to be trusted with the power of deciding who's good and who isn't. (If you're really confused right now then watch the episodes. They're on Netflix and are extremely well done). Yet, in reality the Guardians and the Green Lantern don't exist so how do we know who's worthy of making these crucial decisions? The short answer is we don't. We trust judges to put the bad guys in jail or congress to do the right thing for our country, but they are only humans not superheroes and humans make mistakes. I'm not saying that every judge or congressman should be fired, but what I am saying is that we are all tasked with the duty of determining good vs. evil. Whether our judgments send someone to jail or simply determine whether or not we buy a shirt, they still affect things. Keeping this in mind, I think that we could all, myself included, be a little less hasty to judge other people. Maybe we don't have the Justice League to catch the bad guys, but we aren't incapable of doing that ourselves.