Can people be evil?

I know that each person is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done—but we are also that worst thing, aren’t we? I kept asking myself this question as I read The Light We Give.

Educator and activist Simran Jeet Singh begins his memoir by recalling the racism he experienced as a “turban-wearing, brown-skinned, beard-loving Sikh” growing up in South Texas. He recalls distressing interactions with classmates and community members who discriminated against him based on his appearance, and he walks readers through the choices he made to navigate complicated feelings of anger, sadness, and fear. These choices led him to embrace positivity over negativity and to practice his Sikh faith more intentionally.

Singh points to three major components of Sikhi (he uses the Punjabi noun, as opposed to the colonialist Sikhism) that have shaped his outlook: chardi kala, a teaching that imbues life with optimism and gratitude even amid pain and suffering; ik oankar, the concept that all people are created with a light of divinity within them, making everyone equal and worthy of respect; and seva, the practice of expressing love in all things, especially through service. He calls on readers to seek lives of active empathy, seeing each person—even those who are hurtful—as valuable and worthy of kindness and love. “When we identify our core values and commitments, and when we begin to put these into practice consistently, then we have set ourselves up to engage with the world around us in a way that is rooted not in our emotions and attachments, but in our principles and convictions.”