“I know, mom!” my kids moan.

It’s innocent enough. The scene typically includes my family on the couch snuggled under blankets as we watch a Disney movie. There may be popcorn involved. Or sometimes ice cream and pizza.

“Is he a bad guy?” my daughter will ask, just trying to pick up on cues the storytellers placed for her. 

“Well, there’s no such thing as good guys and bad guys, just people who make sad choices.” 

This is where the “I know” moan comes in. 

My kids are just trying to figure out the story. They are learning about protagonists, antagonists, and story arcs. But there’s something in real life that I want them to know. 

There are no bad guys.

I want my kids to know that everyone they look in the eye is an image bearer of God. 

Too often we see choices sorted out cleanly in books and movies. Good choices sorted to the good guys and bad choices dealt to the bad guys. But the world isn’t made of people who fall into two categories. 

When we make good choices and when we make bad choices, we are both recipients of God’s love. All were made by the God in His image. All were given dignity by simply being image bearers. All have access to the redemptive power of forgiveness, not just the “good guys” or the “bad guys.” We are all in the messy grey area of being human. 

“Was he a bad person?” 

Who am I kidding? I play this in my head when I watch action movies. I want to rationalize if I should feel bad about bad things happening to the character. I can distance myself from it a bit and I can save myself from the guilt if the character was ‘bad.’ And if they fit the formula of the story’s villain. I’m trying to save myself from feeling sad. 

But what happens when I’m watching the news? The same rationalizations should not apply. But my protective storytelling reflex is used to it. I find myself not wanting to deal with the intricacies that come with complex situations. I don’t want to feel sad when I hear something bad that happened. I’m trying to save myself having to process difficult emotions.

The internal rationalization goes something like this.

It’s okay that he died.

Because he killed. 

Because he stole. 

Because he did something wrong. 

It’s not okay that he died. 

Because he was young.

Because he was innocent. 

Because he was scared. 

We can’t rationalize the sum of someone’s choices to make our consciences feel clear. We can’t let compassion be conditional. We need to fight to remember the inherent dignity in every face. Our hearts must break when we see dignity defaced. We must fight past making ourselves feel better and instead fight to see the dignity in every person. 

When we feel ourselves trying to figure out if someone is (or was) a good or bad person, we need to recognize we are asking the wrong question. Compassion can’t be conditional. When we know the dignity in them is intrinsic, nothing else matters. 

I am aware that to those who have experienced suffering and loss, this way of thinking may seem like an over-simplification of a complicated issue. It is not my intention to minimize your experience. It is with humility and hope that I present this way of seeing people as imagers of God – the way that Jesus asks us to see each other. These things are difficult and complicated, but they are worth doing. I want to continue to uncover issues like this together.

We are all human, all capable of both terrible and wonderful choices. Whether someone made good choices today or bad choices, we are all recipients of love and forgiveness.

In life, there are no bad guys. There are no good guys. 

Only people who are images bearers of God, possessors of dignity, and recipients of forgiveness.