What Does It Mean To Be Good?
Is there something inherently good on this planet? If we presume that there are good things that would basically mean that there are also things that are bad, maybe even evil. But a good thing for me could be a bad thing for you. So, if I want to be good doesn't that also depend on your opinion on my actions?
If I intended to be good but I hurt you, does that mean my action was good or does that mean it was bad? Should I have been aware of all possible outcomes my action could have had to decide whether to act like this or act another way?
What if I needed some time off because I was feeling sick but someone needed me to do something and I could have prevented evil by not putting myself first but leaving my needs aside and act? Putting it like this could mean that maybe people should always act selfless and only think about the greater good. But if everyone would act like this we would all be unhappy because we would never work to get our needs met.
So, there seems to be the need that we all know what we personally need right now and set boundaries. Isn't that selfish? I think it's not. I would introduce another option: communication. Maybe we are good humans if we know what we need and communicate it. At least, like that we would prevent ourselves from hurting while acting.
So, maybe if I say I would love to help but I can't, it would be better than acting while not having the energy to do so. But if we all did so, maybe some people would be left behind and nobody would help them while they actually even asked fo help.
So maybe, if people communicated their needs and asked the other person for their needs and negotiate that could be truely good. But what if two absolute opposites would have to be negatiated. Can there be a good outcome?
Well, we would all have more energy because we don't cross our personal boundaries and then we could also be there for others more often. But would we do so?
A good action could be an action we perform while having enough energy and asking the other person about what exactly they needed to happen and only be there for them as much as we can. Maybe like this we could also communicate why we were not able to help the whole way through. The other person would be able to understand better and feel better about the help received - because it couldn't be good to be happy about help that hurt the other person.
So, how about a good action is an action performed consentual while checking in with ourselves and the other person and communicating about the ressources avaiable and the reasons why it might not be fullfilling the needs of the other person completely?
But that means there is no inherently good action but just a relational good one. Could any action then be a good action? Or maybe there are universally bad actions and relational bad actions. The first category we can't negotiate, the second we can.
But what makes a good action become good?
