Systemic Evil

We have been doing a lot of talking about systemic evil. Systemic evil occurs when life is organized so that conflict and hurt between people are difficult to avoid. A simple example: flying overseas, we had spent many hours in the same seat. We wanted to get out of the seat and stretch our legs. Getting out and back into our seat was difficult because the man in the aisle seat in the row in front of us tipped his seat all the way back so he could sleep. His seat back encroached into the space we used to slide across and get out of the airplane; each of us bemped into his seat back - in fact it was unavoidable. The man was angry that we woke him up and snapped at us to be more respectful of his seat. I apologized but also felt unfairly accused. You see, the problem wasn't my lack of respect or the man's sleeping that was the problem. The problem was that the airplane had set the seats closely together and allowed them to tip back into each other's space. If the man used the freedom that the airline afforded him, he would interfere with our freedom to move in and out of our seats easily.
Israel responded to the rise of terror by putting up a wall which they call a security fence. But it has created a situation where Palestinians feel imprisoned in their own towns. If they attend school on the other side of the fence, they have to spend up to an hour in an inspection line. It is a situation that creates tension and hatred. For Christians, this wall creates a situation of pain which challenges them to be a better person, exhibit the life of Christ.