Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

     It seems like every time I check out the news, murder is the hot topic.  It used to baffle me when family and neighbors of the accused were interviewed.  I’d listen to their statements and it was as if they were all given the same script.  The murderer is always described as a “loner” or “quiet”.  They never saw it coming.  I found it extraordinary that the “wolf in sheep’s clothing” somehow managed to infiltrate civilized society and no one noticed.  I wondered how that was possible when logic insisted that there had to be signs. 

     All of that changed a few months ago.  I learned that I woman I used to work with was murdered.  She was kind and compassionate so I assumed it had to have been a stranger.  It wasn’t.  Her husband of over ten years murdered, not only, her but also their seven-year-old son.   She considered this man, her husband and father of their children, to be her best friend.  She lived with him but had no clue what kind of evil was lurking beneath the facade. 

     Even more disturbing, I had met the man myself.  Oddly, he really was quiet.  He smiled often and would say, “hello” whenever he stopped in to see his wife at work.  If spoken to, he would carry on a conversation, but he appeared painfully shy.  He looked perfectly normal.  In his mug shot he looks like a deranged lunatic but, then again, I could say the same about the photo on my driver’s license.  Even after the man confessed, I found it hard to believe he was capable of such a thing. 

     Perhaps, the truth is we all have evil deep inside of us.  But we all have the power to choose our path.  Each day we are faced with decisions and it is our responsibility to expose the “wolf” that lies inside our hearts and minds.  Our obligation does not end at merely exposing the evil; we must choose to destroy it before it destroys us.