Goodness

I did a bit of philosophy back in my uni days. Back when I was super young and naive and full of innocence. We talked a lot about the goodness of people and if we are born 'bad' or 'good'. There were no clear answers (as it always seems to be with philosophy). However, despite the 6 years of living that has happened between now and then, my views have not changed considerably.

I do think people are good. Yes we have a heck of a lot of falleness in us. I think we stuff up a lot. We lie. We cheat. We steal. We are selfish. We stuff up hugely. But I still think we are good. There is goodness in all of us. The hope of being a better person. The hope of live lived not just entirely for ourselves. The hope we can love. The hope we can fix our mistakes. The hope of mending brokenness. Redemptive hope.

There is capacity for evilness in us all. I think none of us are exempt. But I love that I feel we are given a choice. Evil is often the easy default, which saddens me a lot. We can explain away atrocious behaviour by claiming the 'default' of evil. Man up I say. Choose good. Work from a model of the goodness inside yourself. Believe it in others. Sure you do get a little cynical, but I like to think of it as wisdom unconventionally expressed. Perfection isn't currently humanely achievable, constantly striving for it wears you down something chronic. But goodness, I feel we can get there with. And perhaps in doing so, catch some glimpses of the goodness that is to come.