Bottom feeders?

"The children of this world, surely, were wiser than the children of light."
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"How would I survive among them? For them nothing existed beyond this material world and this moment.  They survived because they learned how to survive.  They were masters at the art of survival.  Outside the bounds of civilized behaviour or conscience, they preyed upon anyone weaker than themselves and revenged themselves upon society by crimes of violence and theft.  In their view, society owed them something.  So they took it.  Simple as that.
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As I lived with men like these during the long years in the prison camps, I slowly learned that such initial impressions were not altogether accurate.  Little by little, I came to understand that underneath their violent exterior and twisted moral code these criminals were men, too; men driven by fear, perhaps more so than other men, but still men nonetheless.  [...]  Understanding all of this in later years never led me to accept or condone their actions in any way, but I did learn to pity them as human beings even as I feared them for what they were and what they might do...
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The children of this world were dedicated to surviving this life by whatever method possible.  I too must be totally dedicated, but with an added dimension.  I must not seek to avoid hardships or to soften their impact.  I must see in them the will of God and through them work out my salvation." - Fr. Walter Ciszek, He Leadeth Me, In Transit
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"The greatest grace God can give a man is to send him a trial he cannot bear with his own powers - and then sustain him with his grace so he may endure to the end and be saved." - Fr. Ciszek
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Art: Nikolai Getman