Last updated 08:02, Sunday, 11 May 2008

IT IS hard to be optimistic about the human race at the moment.

Two incidents in the past fortnight have horrified us all. The first is the young woman who was beaten to death because of how she looked.

Sophie Lancaster died as the result of injuries received when she and her boyfriend were attacked because they were dressed as Goths.

I heard one of Sophie’s friend talking on the radio the other day about her.

She talked about someone who, even as a little girl, would miss the school bus stop in the morning because she was so busy reading.

This was a child who asked for a shed instead of a Wendy house because she wanted a place to go and read in peace. And one day her father found her hanging upside down with a book in her hand.

When asked what she was doing, she explained that she just wanted to see if it was any different.

It is tragic that such a beautiful, individual young woman should die because she dared to be different.

It is also tragic that the people who attacked her were aged 15, 16 and 17.

The judge described their behaviour as that of feral animals but pointed out that at least animals only killed to get food.

What on earth possessed them to kick and beat someone so horrifically that it was not possible for paramedics to identify their gender?

At 15, 16 and 17 they should be worrying about girlfriends and boyfriends; they should be concerned with school books and pop music; as teenagers they should be filled with a passion to change the world. They should be embracing individuality, not condemning it!

What could make them do this terrible thing? What could make them do that, except basic evil?

I can’t find an excuse.

Neither can I find one for the dreadful Austrian man who kept his daughter and three of her children in a cellar for over 24 years.

There has been footage on television of this man on holiday in Thailand, relaxing in the sun, being massaged on the beach.

Meanwhile his daughter and three of their children were living like animals in a soundproof cellar.

It is like some terrible nightmare and there is nothing to suggest that his wife or any neighbours knew that there was anything going on.

But if they did, if they had even an inkling, then they are as guilty as he.

Because to turn a blind eye to this wickedness is to condone it.

A third thing that distressed me this week was a Christmas card shown on a TV documentary about Madeleine McCann's parents, and what the last year was like for them.

They read the card in which someone told them how terrible they were, called them thieves and hoped they never found Madeleine because they didn’t deserve her.

Why would anyone bother writing such a letter? Even if you thought it, why would you write it? What good are you doing, and how is it your business anyway?

The only hopeful thing about these horrible, horrible stories is that there are still people who are horrified by them.

There are still people who simply cannot understand the hate and ignorance and evil behind the actions of the few.

And as long as we can still be horrified, we can afford to remain a little optimistic, even when our view of humanity is a bit tarnished.

As long as we can be horrified, we are capable of recognising evil.

And if we know evil, we know that the opposite is good. And while we know good, we will not let evil triumph - even though, over the last couple of weeks, it has tried its best.