An account of the world

If when we were born, we all had an account created that started at zero and through the way we behaved to either help or harm humanity we could earn or lose credits, do you think that you are in the positive, or the negative? I have no idea how this would be technically calculated of course, but for a hypothetical for self-reflection it is fine.

So?

It is an interesting idea to think that in general a good person would be one who adds more positive than they take through negative and the best are those who have moved far away from the zero point into the positive. The bad of course are the inverse, those who have enacted a heavy toll through negative actions. No matter how one looks at it though, there is always a bit of good in the bad and bad in the good because at the very least, for every action there is a cost, and that cost will have missed opportunity attached to it.

It is likely impossible to objectively approach "good" and "bad" because of preference and perspective of the testing audience, but lets say for example that a person murders 10 people in cold blood, is a person who murders 5 people in cold blood a better person? We might like to use Hitler as an example of the greatest evil, but how many would do similar if given the opportunity? Are they any better just because they didn't have the opportunity to be worse? A strange thing to think about.

Are you a good person?

I don't know about myself, but I do think that I have a mix of good and bad sides that add positive in to the world and make some withdrawals from time to time too. All in all though, I think my account is in the positive. I think since I was a little kid I have thought far too much about the state of the world which is likely down to me having a lot of time to see the way people interact with each other without myself being part of the conversation. Watching people behave is interesting. Or misbehave.

I used to wait for a girlfriend to finish work in a kiosk so she didn't have to leave the store alone. It was fun, I would go in there an hour or so early, grab a coffee, flick through some magazines, read sections of romance novels out to her as she counted the change in the register and, watch the people who would enter. It was easy to see those who were planning on stealing something.

It is all in the body language.

The body is too out of sync, too unnatural. The head doesn't swivel enough to take in the environment as most would to some degree, the eyes pointing too straight ahead, the shoulders stiff. The intention to steal was there before they walked into the shop and, I would signal my girlfriend with a nod that it would be "this one" to try. After a few discussions and observations, she learned what to look for too.

Would a good person steal?

Beer.

I would suggest no, as there are no real excuses that can explain away stealing something that is used for pleasure like that. I can understand a hungry person without money stealing food or another stealing medication - but beer doesn't count. However, the effect it has on their positive and negative account might not be so drastic compared to say, someone who chops up infants for fun.

This turned a little dark.

Thought about your "goodness" score yet? Still in the positive? Would be an interesting report to see all of the bad shit we have ever done from an accurate and objective standpoint, and all the costs to others that went down the supply chain. As a kid I would imagine that in heaven there would be a searchable book of my life and within I could find the statistics for every move I made.

How do you think you'd compare to others?

Perhaps this is the problem these days as we have so much access to be able to compare ourselves to others, that we can pick and choose who we compare ourselves to. "Well, I'm no angel" - Well, that is okay then, because admitting you are an asshole makes you a good person.

Due to availability though, we can go online and find someone we can bash that has done bad deeds that we would never do, even though we could also search and find people that have done bad deeds we might do, or might have already done.

something, something, casting stones.

While it might make us feel better, all it does is shift our attention away from our own experience so as to avoid having to deal with our own shortcomings. Like that priest who gives sermons on Sunday mornings preaching what it is to live a good life, while diddling children in the afternoon. I am guessing that loses points from the account, no matter what the church says through their behavior to cover it up.

I wonder what their Book of life would say.

I don't know what a good life led would be, because it is impossible to step far enough outside and into the future to know what ramifications our current actions have. However, there are various things that we could likely predict aren't going to add more positives in the world than what they cost. Things like war, famine, large economic disparity, slavery, pedophilia, pollution, terrorism, murder...

But, how much of what we do adds to the problems and leads to the extremes?

Death by a thousand cuts.

We might not be able to fix it all, but we can at least attempt to improve our little corner of the world the best we can. I don't think it would make any of us good people, but at least it might start to balance the books a little and if enough act, perhaps the future will be better for others.

How does your account look?

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]