love/ hate

The problem is, I can sit here and wish everyone had a happy Christmas, but I know that someone I really love had an awful one. Of the "could only be worse if someone died" variety of awful. Life-crushingly, screamingly horrid.

So now I'm grappling with 2 of the great mysteries of life: Why do bad things happen to good people? and How can human beings be so cruel? That second one is something I ponder often, as I'm completely unable to wrap my brain around the idea of the horrid, greedy, hateful, destructive, mean things people do; but in this case it has the added twist of, "how can people be horrifically cruel to those they claim to love?"

And it bothers me that I hate someone now. I disliked him before- had no respect for him, thought he was not a good person, knew he was selfish and manipulative and didn't treat people the way someone who purports himself as a "good, God-fearing Christian" ought to (he is of the type who make "Christian" a bad word). But now I hate him. I really hope Karma exists, because he's got a lot to make up for (and my friend surely must have a lot of good times due, they've been due for a while now). And I really hate that he made her feel it was all her fault, that he took away her strength, that he tried to destroy who she is and replace her with who he wanted, and that there is nothing I can do or say to make things better for her.

Why are people evil? What kind of person chooses cruelty over love?