Monsters

Do you think the monsters of the world were men before they became what we know them as?

I ask this in the wake of listening to the song Handlebars by Flobots. If you've never heard it I do recommend giving it a listen but this isn't a promotion so much as it is an explanation of my reasoning.

The song opens with the line "I can ride my bike with no handlebars." and the last line is "I can lead the planet in a holocaust"

Throughout the song its a slow progression of the person in question doing things as they grow and slowly but surely gaining more power in the world the song describes. And it got me thinking if the monsters we have known throughout history were always like that? Was there always a tell, even at a young age, that these people would grow up to be some of the worst, most notorious people the world has ever known?

A German fascist leader, a Russian communist dictator, an Italian dictator, a genocidal American president, a Cuban communist dictator, Spanish conquistadors, British and Portuguese explorers, monarchs from across many countries and continents. But not just the powerful, even those who are regular people one day and do something unspeakable the next. You might know one or two.

Did these people, these now and forever monsters, have moments in their life when they were proud of riding their bike with no handlebars? Did they make art for their parents at school smiling like crazy at the praise they received? Did they play sports with friends, have their heartbroken, enjoy the beauty of the world, wake up next to the love of their life and feel the feelings most of us wish we could?

Did they play tag, cry when they fell down and scraped their knee, help their neighbor, have a favorite food that, if they could only eat one meal for the rest of their lives they'd choose that?

Did they love their grandparents and help them bring in groceries, comfort their children when they cried all the while enabling or committing acts of terror on those they did not like?

Do you think they ever felt regret? Either at all or for the things they ended up doing? Do you think, if they were in more modern times, felt nervous when learning how to drive? Were they nervous to talk to a girl or guy they liked?

I don't know the answer to these questions but it is strange to think about. I'm sure you have experienced at least some of those scenarios I put forth and yet you would never consider yourself similar to any of the monsters no matter if they experienced the same things as you.

Many times we make friends based on similar experiences, things we can bond over, things we can talk about and agree on or at the very least have healthy discussion over. But you'd probably never consider those mentioned as someone who could have friends, at least true friends, and not ones that were afraid of what would happen to them if they spoke out against them.

And don't get me wrong, this is not to humanize or excuse the actions of any of these now monsters. I suppose its more of an exploration of nature or nurture. Were they always the monsters history has come to know them as? Or was there a defining event, something that happened to them that made the only logical course of action to them to commit the actions they did?

Was there something anyone could have done in these people's lives that could have changed the course of history. Maybe one of them did fall and scrape their knee and no one came to comfort them which put them down the wrong path because they felt alone. Maybe if one of the passersby asked if they were okay, or helped them find their parent, or gave them a band-aid things would've turned out differently.

Again I don't have the answer to any of these, but hopefully this causes you to think, to consider that everything that happens in life has a domino effect that can lead to really anything.

Were the monsters always truly monsters?