I think I have a finite definition of good but it is also hard to explain. To me, someone is good if they are caring for others around them and trying to be their best, positive self. Generally a good person is aware of their place in the universe, big and small, and working to be a positive, contributing member of it. In our utopia eHarmony, we had people be contributing citizens because we felt that made someone a good person. I think good can also be defined by every individual because goodness gets defined by the environment where a person grew up. I grew up in a family where goodness meant hearing and looking out for others and being a generally nice person. In our family that meant we grew a deeper understanding of other individuals and spoke about our feelings, but for others, that could have manifested as participating in community service. I think that religion can also be a large indicator of goodness. All religions have the basis of goodness and the major ones also have the more specific benchmarks to be a good person and I can support those. I was always against organized religion because I had seen how the churches around me had acted poorly and not followed their own rules to be a good person, but as I’ve gotten older, I have realized that there are very religious people who follow their religion and are actually living out the perfect ideals. More recently I have met people who emirate goodness and try to live to their best ability and that has raised the bar for me. I believe there's a wrong goodness, because ideally everyone's ideas should be rooted in the same ideology. Goodness is subjective but everyone is capable of being a good person.
Cool! I wrote about a similar idea and totally agree. the idea of good is like a rubber band that can be stretched and changed. Imagine where we would be if the idea of good and bad didn't exist and we could just be people? (The idea of a world like this could also be just as subjective)
ReplyDeleteMan, what a misleading title. Here I was, expecting your usual with in an essay about 1D and getting hit with a serious essay instead. But seriously, this was an interesting read- I can relate to your feelings about religion, as I used to condemn organized religion as well. While I may have become more accepting of religion, I still feel that it just isn't for me.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you ended your post with how everyone has the capability to be a good person. I think that is a really important concept because people like to blame their bad actions on their background or bad decisions. I believe in life, people should't spend time looking in the past, but they should see what goodness they can portray in their future.
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