What does it mean to be a good person?
The search for a personal moral definition has been a universal search ever since the concept of an afterlife was created (or revealed). As such, the tools for defining and redefining your moral standing is universal. Many religious people point to this universality as proof of our species’s divine foundations. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know. I try not to hurt anyone, but know the pain that I cause through my mere existence. Every time I buy a new piece of clothing, I take a infinitesimally small stake in the suffering of some overworked and underpaid mother or father; son or daughter. When I buy fuel, I add to them justifying the 1 to 2 million gallons of fuel that leak into the ocean every day. At this point, I can already imagine how many people would be looking at me like I had flaming turds hanging out of my mouth if I said that to their face. Maybe it is insane to take on so much guilt. But it’s easy to be nice to the people you interact with everyday. My argument against the belief that us being nice to strangers is proof of a heavenly spirit is: convenience.
The reason we’re not assholes to, or hurt, everyone we meet is because most of us live in the same place- every day of our lives. Most of us live in a state of complete interdependence with our community. If you’re a fucking asshole every time you go to your local grocery store, pretty soon you will not be able to shop at that store. The same goes for most services. And the same goes for friends and family. If you spend your time abusing everyone, pretty soon you won’t have anywhere to go. We learn that as children. It’s not something some god implanted in us, it’s a fact we witnessed through the evolution of specialization in communities. We needed to be kind to the dairy farmer to continue getting milk. It doesn’t matter how many goods you have, if you don’t have cows, and the one who does- doesn’t like you and refuses to trade with you, you will miss out something essential. So you learn to be cordial, even though he’s not someone you see everyday or necessarily like.
So kindness towards the world is fantastical and unrealistic, kindness to strangers is a matter of convenience, and to an extent, so is kindness to friends and family. But there’s something that is buried deep within us. Maybe it is something selfish, maybe it’s selfless. Maybe it’s our need for connection. Our need to be social. Maybe it stems from our need to procreate, or our recognition that we need others to survive. Whatever the reason is, I want others to live a good life. I feel pain when others do. And feel joy when others do. I’m not sure if this connection makes me a good person. The only thing I know is that it makes me human.
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