What Really Constitutes A Good Person?
What really constitutes a good person? This is one of the questions I have in my life that I long to find the answer for.
Does being an upright citizen equate to being a good man?
Does going to church regularly and paying your colleagues compliments that they are due make you virtuous and moral?
Is it enough to do good things for other people to make you an ethical and just human being?
With all the norms that the society we live in sets for being good, sometimes, it's just too easy to be bad. Whether that takes the form of gossiping about your co-worker, cheating on a test, changing lanes too fast or merely having malicious thoughts of others, I've done all sort of things that I can never be proud of, nor justify.
Sometimes, it's just way too easy to be bad. The idea of being good is occasionally easier said than done. Doing something I already regard as greatly noble may not be good enough to the person sitting next to me.
Let's admit it, we can never please everyone, no matter how we try.
I've just recently stopped apologizing for my existence and started to accept and love myself. I have realized that the key to becoming a truly good person is in also accepting the parts of my personality that I am not very proud of.
I have stopped resisting my nature, instead, tried to work my way around it. I have come to admit that I am not perfect and I do succumb to temptation sometimes. What matters is the fact that everyday, I try to be a better person than I was yesterday. If I fail, I try again.
Somebody once said, "I may not be a nice person, but I am a good human being".
Being good is like beauty. It is a biased, prejudiced, over-rated and subjective issue. I've learned not to put too much pressure on myself with all the standards that our society has. Instead, I try to simplify them by struggling not to step on anyone's shoes. Then maybe... just maybe, I can be a good person in the process.
Written in 2007 by Katherine Whellams --- Philippines