From Convenient Good to Higher Good
Good people will battle on a regular basis between doing good that is convenient, versus doing the higher good. Higher good involves doing what is truly good in itself. This may mean giving or helping someone even if you don’t have that much to give. Convenient good will mean mainly doing good when it is convenient for you, or only when it provides some benefits for yourself.
As part of a higher good, someone may be willing to give or donate to a cause anonymously. When it comes to convenient good, someone may refuse to give unless they will be recognized for this “kind act.”
Let’s explore these ideas further. If we view ourselves as good people, at some point we have to ask ourselves:
“Am I willing to help someone even if it isn’t convenient for me?”
Because truthfully, is it ever convenient to put your day’s plans on hold in order to help someone else? When someone needs help, it is often because they did not expect to need that help. Perhaps their car broke down, or they became sick unexpectedly, or they are struggling to deal with a death in the family.
In our day to day lives, it can become convenient to avoid noticing one type of problem, then another, then another, and soon enough we are only concerned just with ourselves. It seems overwhelming to consider all the problems that everyone is going through, and so we decide to forget about them.
In time, we may end up blinded to the problems right in front of us, or expect someone else to deal with them. Larger and larger issues end up becoming the types of things that we don’t think about, don’t worry about, and don’t even see anymore. It becomes convenient to ignore them.
Maybe it is time that we wake up to the issues happening right around us every day.
Even at the level of our own families, perhaps it is easier to ignore their complaints or daily issues, and so we keep living out our convenient lives, day by day. Some people who get too comfortable and refuse to truly listen and understand their partners, may be surprised when they appear to “suddenly” want a divorce. We get used to ignoring and avoiding so many problems in the world around us, that eventually this ends up being the same approach or attitude we have with our own families.
We somehow come to believe that “Someone, somewhere will take care of this,” and we absolve ourselves of all responsibility.
Sometimes we lie to ourselves and say that we can only do so much. Sure, we all have limitations, but we tend to settle for doing little, and then we claim that we have done so much.
It’s easy to lie to ourselves and claim that we are doing what is truly good. But is it just something that is convenient for you in that moment?
Do you take the time to stretch beyond yourself and sometimes do something good that is not so convenient?
Ask yourself some questions today:
Can I dedicate a bit more time to truly listening to someone’s problem?
Can I give something more to someone in need, even if it costs me time or money?
Can I take a few minutes to help a stranger in need today?
Can I be more observant, and try to see when someone truly needs help?
Can I offer to help someone and truly mean it? This means not just wanting to appear to be polite.
Can I afford to lose some of my free time in order to help someone?
Can I call someone who is going through a crisis, to check up on them?
What are my strengths or areas where I may be able to help someone?
Have I been assuming that I could not offer much to help people, when perhaps I did have a lot to offer?
Don’t just think of these things, but actually aim to do something about it. Can we find it in ourselves to be someone’s hero today? Perhaps in the end it won’t cost us as much as we would think. It may just be a minor inconvenience. Or seeing the gratitude and relief on someone’s face may make it all worthwhile, causing no inconvenience at all.
Let’s do something that is a higher good today, even if it isn’t always convenient.
