Some kindness comes wrapped in sugar, hiding something darker. Some harm is nothing more than the long shadow left behind by a good heart.

That day, I saw an elderly woman on a street corner selling wooden combs. She spoke of rare timber, healing properties, invisible energies. I knew it wasn’t true but I still paid.

Not because of the comb. Because of the panic in her eyes. The kind that says, “Today might end with nothing.”

A few days later, something uncomfortable surfaced. I thought I had done a good deed. But my kindness may have become the reason
she tells the story again next time. I thought I was helping her survive. But perhaps I also confirmed something quietly dangerous: “Oh, this story works.” My intention was gentle. The outcome may have nudged her one step further away from truth.

The world is complicated like that. Kindness grows shadows. And what we call harm is sometimes just survival wearing the wrong face.

Good and evil aren’t two separate roads. They’re ends of the same line. Press too hard on one side, and the other rises.

That day, I didn’t really buy a comb. I bought a clearer view of how little I still understand about human nature and myself.



—— XC Scribbles · 貳玖 XXIX 🪞