Good and evil

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Rereading the first thread and that of tumhalad2's (Welcome to the Downs, by the way ):

Originally Posted by Menelvagor

and many other characters become evil by their domination, in particular the majority of mankind.

The word 'become,' at least on this morning, grates on me. Not sure how it was intended, and I'm not saying that Menelvagor meant it in any particular way, but to me the word 'become' does not seem to connote 'choice.' One chooses to do evil or not. Maybe Melkor and Sauron became evil by the thousand slices of evil choices or one big choice - I don't know. But to me all cognizant beings are free to choose and do not simply wake up one day on the wrong side.

This same thinking applies when a person tells me that "so and so made me..." Children use this argument, but what of adults who are not threatened with harm in any way? When I'm feeling grumpier than usual, I will correct them and say, "No, you choose to let them do..."

Anyway...