The Definition of Monster

I've been toying with this idea for some time now and felt that it was something worth writing out. The definition of monster. We think of monsters as enormous disfigured creatures with fangs and claws. When small children fear the dark they think a monster is going to come out of it. They give the monster tools with which to scare them. They imagine it. They think up a colorful, unrealistic theing to be scared of . I would love to have a monster like that. Some thing you can pick out immediatly. Something you can fight off by being clever and strong. But is that really a monster. No. Its a beautiful use of imagination and creativety. But it is no monster. Not compared to the ones we hear about almost everyday. People who kill for the sake of killing. Those that enjoy the pain of others. People who just don't care enough to stop them, they are like them. You probably wouldn't be able to pick out a serial killer in a class of kindergarteners, they all look the same. Sweet and innocent, incabable of comitting such atrocities. You can never really tell until it happens. Until the monster has come out of the dark shrouding it. You'll always be able to see your enemy in Godzilla or a Zmbie, a decaying corpse symbolic of the loss of humanity. It is a monster.But then what are you? A person. People kill people. People rape people. People harm people. For what they believe is right. How far are you from a monster? How dark are your thoughts? Hitler, Jack the Ripper, The Smiley Face Killer, The Boston Strangler. What our society would define as monsters. They are. But they are people. And we are people. To be human is to be a monster. To have the instinct to harm, in order to better your position. To be able to steal a life from a brother, sister, mother of someone else because that is what you're suppose to do. Horor movies. All portray monsters. Killers that take joy in their victims fear. We champion these movies. Do you know what real pain is? Or do you understand it from how it looks on a screen. If you saw someone going through that pain, what would you do? What would you do if you saw any pain? Do you help the person or continue on your path. Do you understand the basic emotion and reaction. Do you hide untill the fangs and claws are gone? Puting an unreal face on fear is easy. It is hard to understand that sometimes you are the monster. The definition of monster is human.