Being Good

[beccaelizabeth]

There's this form of logic that starts out saying that someone is a Good Person and that therefore they do Good Things.

This way round, it's dangerous.

It's the logic that looks past the thing done to the Good Person, ignores specifics, says the thing must be good because they've seen the person that did it.

Examine the intent of most any person and you can find out that they think of themselves as the good guys.

They're protecting, they're defending, they're saving. Friends, family, fatherland. From the inside, everyone's doing the right thing.

I don't believe in good people and bad people, I just believe in people. Everyone seeks happiness and avoids suffering. They just do it with varying degrees of thoughtfulness and skill.

I think it gets much harder to do good things if one has decided one is, already, a good person. Why be thoughtful if you've already achieved that goal?

Look at the deed. If it was a stranger that did it, what word applies?

Is this thing good? No? Then someone is in error. Show where the error is. Learn.

Comments

[psychoadept.livejournal.com]

I agree entirely.