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My father raised me with the idea that people generally do the best they know how to do. For 12 years I taught at-risk kids. With some of them I had to dig a little deeper, but I always looked for their "goodness." I can only think of 1 student in all that time that I couldn't find good in. These are the kids that would cause many people to cross the street. Shaved heads, saggy jeans, gang tattoos (as young as 14 years old). Every time I met a parent, it was crystal clear why the kids behaved the way they did - it was NEVER a surprise. All I could do was treat the kids the best I was able, and hope that some day kindness and respect would make a difference.
how can someone talk philosophically about "good" and not actually concretely define what it is...how do you expect to reason up answers when the premise you're working with is not plain?...
Many of us have been hurt badly many times by those we have tried to treat decently, even to the point of assisting. I seriously doubt man's poor condition has anything to do with religion because the churches nowadays are fairly empty and man's inhumanity to man is obviously getting a lot worse.
Hatred for others is rampant and most justify their reasons for their own hate whether it's based on race, sex, age, nationality, religion, or pick your own poison. Realizing that you have hatred in your heart is like quitting smoking. It's a very difficult task for most people and impossible for many.
People are evil by nature. That ought to be obvious. As children, you have to discipline and usually punish them so that they behave, otherwise they become little monsters. People are selfish, selfcentered and most could care less about their fellow man. Man is good???? Give me a break.
No ;because we know their are bad people in the world.No one leaqves a baby without developed sense to be o their own in this world. its trtue of the abimal world and the human world. trust is somehtig earned and not being avoid is based on what we diplay to toehr so they at elast sense no dager. If your walkjig thru the woods and you see somehtig that looks like a wolf;has teeth like a wolf; best to avoid it or you wouldn't live long likely.this has always beeen a dangerous woprld that takes judgement to survive even unhuman dangers.
Someone taught me something and I liked it. And wanted to share.
Someone said that people mistreat each other BECAUSE they think that the others are not good.
Lots of people have a general idea about others, that we are not that good. Religions teach that we are bad and need redemption. And so, when people meet "not good" people, they don't trust them and they don't always treat them the best.
Imagine if you met a GOOD person (or someone you believed was good), you would show him warmth, politeness, respect and maybe even affection.
Imagine you met someone who you believe you should not trust, then you are very cautious, and sometimes even hostile (if you believe something bad about this person).
So the ironic thing is: people in this world think that they are not generally that good and it's like a self fulfilling prophesy: they start to treat each other as though the others are not good. And that behavior makes themselves not be good. And therefore this cycle of bad behavior keeps going on and on.
If people believed that people were generally good, everybody would treat each other better and people themselves would become better overall.
So, if we want this world to be a better place, we have to stay away from teachings that teach us that people are bad and embrace the teachings that help us see the good in others.
As with many ideas against traditional faith, they sound good on the surface but only on the surface
It is in fact the recognition that people are NOT in their nature good, why we have on paper the best form of government ever put together.
It's the recognition that all men are not angels and that all men with power ought to be distrusted with some degree
It's the reason why there is the principle of eternal vigilance for those people in power with We the People as the ultimate check on government.
THat's because human beings are not just "good" And they don't have to be told they are not good for them to behave in that way. Because in our very nature we are selfish creatures and that selfish ambition leads to the greatest atrocities in the history of the world. You don't have to teach a baby how to care only about themselves. You don't have to teach a small child how to lie, how to be mean to their siblings or others, they do it quite naturally. That is the sin nature of mankind. That child doesn't do these things because they are told they are bad. They are born to do so in the same way a spider is born to weave a web.
It's the naivete of thinking people are good that leads us to being abused by government and corporations and giving them the benefit of the doubt when there is all the evidence that we should not do so
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..believe it or not, and good for you for doing "the good deeds"
But when certain religions teach their followers that I am bad how can I trust them?
