When I look back at my life over the past few years, I finally understand how villains are made. I now understand that a genuinely good person can turn into a villain, and there's a formula that renders the villain:
- Loss
- Death
- Trauma
- Bullying
- Ostracization
- Abandonment
- Mistreatment
- Persecution
- Experienced injustice
- Others' strong dedication to misunderstanding
When you look at Darth Vader, Killmonger, The Grinch, Cruella, Doctor Octopus, Loki, Syndrome, etc., they all have something in common: they all experienced 1-3 or more of these issues in life and lost hope in goodness and people in general.
Many of these famous villains may have even at one time tried and struggled to see the good in people. At times, deep down wanting to believe there was good in the world, they kept being struck with tragedy and dealt with their issues by letting their anger fester - turning to hurting others because of how badly they were hurt.
When I think about 2022-2023, I look at all the events of my life, and how I too had these experiences, worse than what I ever had to deal with before. I mean, I really can't fathom that I got bullied for the first time in my life as an adult. Especially considering as a kid, I had all the criteria of a bullies dream, my weight was up and down, at one time in my childhood, me being so overweight I legitimately looked pregnant, and oh yeah I had a very horrible stutter that I never beat until I was 19 years old. But yet, I went through all my school years without being bullied. 🤷🏾♀️
And worst of all, I kept trying to do my best and be my best, but kept being struck with almost all of these tribulations. Thankfully, unlike villains, I never let how others treated me push me to treat others badly. Through my tribulations, it pushes me more to be nicer. With every move I make in life, I think about the issues I faced, and how I never want anyone to ever feel as badly treated or ostracized as I did. I never want someone to go home and feel like "oh wow, I feel so horrible after being with Naya" or "Wow, Naya hurt me so much today". I never want to be the straw that broke the camel's back. More so in these times when suicide is more rampant than ever.
While I found myself slowly turning into the Grinch trope this year, instead of turning into a villain, I'm turning to my alter ego I created in my early 20s, a superhero named Euphoria, whose powers are to spread joy and happiness as much as possible.
In all, when I see a person in real life who is a "villain," I work harder to show them love and care because I know how much a person had to go through in life to get to that point.
