When we were little, they told us of monsters: creatures hiding under the bed, in your closet, even in your head. This is what we are afraid of, but they are not what we should fear. The truth is there are no monsters under your bed, in your closet, or in your head. People say there are no such things as monsters, but they are wrong.

There is a monster.

This creature looks flawless, magnificent and beautiful. Its beauty is like a siren luring her prey. Once you look upon it you will be fooled, for its appearance will cover its evil and wicked ways. This is exactly what it wants you to believe, that it must be harmless because it’s beautiful, and if it were evil, it would look hideous. However, beauty is not it’s only camouflage. It feels delicate, soft and fragile, like it would break with the slightest touch. But just like every rose, it has thorns. It will feel rough, strong and powerful in an instant if you anger the beast. Its pungent odor varies between sweet and musky. And just like the birds in the sky it has a voice of its own.
There is a reason why it is considered a monster because century after century it has shown no mercy by slaughtering millions. It takes pride in lying, deceiving, hating and in hurting the living. This monstrosity takes away happiness until all hope is lost—until the only thing left is darkness and despair.  It steals, it lies, and it hates to get what it desires. There is no limit on its cruelty. What drives this monster to do these unspeakable acts is it’s craving for power and greed. Now you may ask, what is this monster you speak of?

This monster is us.

We can be beautiful, fragile, generous, but we also can be neglectful, revengeful, and murderous. We could give happiness but instead we cause terror. We crave power because we need to be superior. We have killed, tortured and persecuted for centuries to gain supremacy. And we have told stories about imaginary monsters, but the story we forgot to tell is about us.