Richard Hogan: It might be hard to believe - but there's more good than evil in this world

Richard Hogan. Photograph Moya Nolan

We live in a beautiful world. That beauty is often obscured by the behaviour of its denizens. The recent escalation of terror in Gaza has been incredibly hard to observe. 

The brutal actions of Hamas, terrorising young adults celebrating the Jewish holiday Sukkot at a music festival has ignited an incomprehensible nightmare for ordinary civilians. 

The videos of the attack make for terrifying viewing. Young people out expressing themselves, having fun, only to lose their lives in a savage attack. Shocking. 

It is hard to imagine what the families of the hostages must be going through, a literal living nightmare. Waiting, while their children are in the hands of brutal murderers. It is very hard to shake their plight from your thoughts. 

What must those hostages be going through at this very moment? The utter terror, and powerlessness at the hands of people who truly hate you. The thoughts of your parents, who you know must be despairing for your life. It’s actually impossible to imagine. 

And now ordinary Palestinians are being deprived of water and electricity, while Israeli missiles rain down, obliterating anything in their way, men, women and children. 

Missiles don’t discriminate civilians from Hamas. The death toll keeps rising. 

Hamas clearly expected this reaction. It wants carnage. The misery their actions will bring into the lives of ordinary decent Palestinians is unfathomable. 

The destruction and brutality that is ongoing ensures this conflict transmutes into a generational trauma. Hate breeding hate, down through the generations. We know what that is like on this island. Children born to hate each other. 

We have seen the rhizomatic roots of that dark legacy. That stays in the system long after the conflict has ended. It is difficult to see where all of this hate will end. It has been going for thousands of years. 

As the song goes, "Now I know us plain folks don't see all the story, And I know this peace and love's just copping out".

But something has to change. I know that is a naïve statement. But children dying is not what freedom is all about. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to take "mighty vengeance" just means more innocent people will die. Peace and love never further from Israeli and Palestinian citizens. 

Of course, Israel’s response will give Hamas the platform for more terror and on and on the cycle of death goes. More children will die. More destruction will be visited on innocent people, while we comfortably watch from the security of our safe homes. 

The inequity in our world can be frightening. The images of children, grief-stricken, bring our own privilege into stark relief.

At times like this, it is hard to see the beauty of the world. 

Putin must be revelling, the glare of the media’s attention focused somewhere else. But hope is a thing with feathers. It is unwavering. 

There are more good people in this world, than those who propagate hate and destruction. We can forget that at times. The news generally only tells us the terrible world stories. But there is goodness too. 

Irish-American philanthropist Chuck Feeney.

The recent death of philanthropist Chuck Feeney, who dedicated his life to helping others, reminds us that there is good in this world. 

Feeney truly lived Andrew Carnegie’s maxim "to die rich is to die disgraced". He secretly gave away $9 billion while still living. His desire to help those who are less fortunate is an inspiring story. 

Most of us never heard of Chuck Feeney until he died. Such were his scruples. He didn’t court attention for his philanthropy, he was motivated by genuine goodness. 

He wrote to Bill Gates outlining his own personal philosophy on altruism, "I cannot think of a more personally rewarding and appropriate use of wealth than to give while one is living… to improve the human condition".

I cannot think of a better message than that, in this time of such unrest. Surrounded by people who want to destroy the human condition, we need his message more than ever. 

There are more people interested in promoting the human condition than there are those who want to destroy it. The light of goodness might be flickering in a storm, but it never goes out. It is resolute. 

While we can feel despairing for the human race, the climate, wars, disease, hunger, and homelessness, there are people like Feeney endeavouring to improve the world for all of us. 

The capacity for goodness in the human heart is endless, it goes deeper than the capacity for evil. These legacy conflicts can be resolved. There is always a solution, we just have to want to see it. 

John Lennon was often criticised for his overly simplistic message in ‘Imagine’. But is it that hard to imagine a world free from conflict? Is that just a romantic idealistic notion? If we actually gave peace a chance, what would the world look like? 

Children growing up free from hate and destruction. Love is more powerful than hate. I know I sound romantic. But innocent children caught in the middle of this conflict will bear the psychological scars for the rest of their lives, should they be lucky enough to survive. 

Terror should not be met with terror. Families are being destroyed, people are losing their lives for a conflict they have nothing to do with. 

I know it is complicated, but peace is the simple answer.