Are some people just bad?
From Junior News & Old Tales for a New Day by Sophia Fahs

Goal:
To explore the concept that there is potential for both “good” and “bad” in people.
To introduce the symbol of Yin and Yang

Activities:
1. Read the story “The Half-Boy of Borneo.”

2. Discuss:

• The solution for Half-Boy’s problem seems to be arrived at through the love and confidence of another person—one who believes he can become “whole.”
• Half-Boy is miserable while he is only half, and happy only after he becomes part of a whole.
• There is a struggle between the two halves, and they are joined together through struggle.
  • This story is about the mind and feelings, or spirit, of an imaginary person, not the physical body. Do you think it could be true—that is, some people have only half (all good or all bad) of the human thoughts and feelings? What makes a whole person?
  • Do you ever have your own times of “being good” and “being bad?” Think about a time you struggled with wanting to do or say something “bad”. How do you handle these bad urges? What helps you do the right thing?
  • Do you think anyone really wants to be bad? If not, how does someone get that way? What would help a bad person become good? (In the story the girl’s love and confidence that the boy could become “whole” gave him the strength to go out looking for his other half.) Do you think Half-Boy really wanted to be good? Why?
  • How can each of us be sure of being a whole person?
  • What helps a bad behavior become good? Punishment? Good advice? Friends? Understanding parents, teachers, and other adults?

3. Yin Yang Symbol with Drawing instructions

The Chinese have a symbol for this same idea which you probably know—the yin-yang symbol. It expresses the idea that opposites in the universe (day/night, light/dark, hot/cold, good/bad, etc) are forever struggling with each other, and wholeness is found when these opposites come together as one. It’s interesting to think about—could there be day without night? light without dark? hot without cold? good without bad?

Yin is the Chinese word to describe one of the two opposite forces. Some of the words to describe Yin are: cool, night, at rest, female, dying. Yang is the Chinese word to describe the energy force which is opposite Yin. Some words to describe Yang are: warm, day, male, active, being born. Taoists call the whole circle around Yin and Yang the Toa (pronounced Dow) meaning “the way,” or the way of nature. The two forces go together, they are both good, both necessary, both equally important in making up the balanced whole.