To Do Good

“The limits of the possible in moral things are less narrow than we think; it is our weaknesses, our vices, our prejudices, that contract them.”           -Rousseau, The Social Contract

We can be as good as we’d like if we are willing. It takes work in the form of discipline and understanding, but mostly a willingness to do good, to be good in the virtuous sense of the word.

The willingness to be good is often cut off by the belief that doing and being good is to be a pansy. It is claimed that such people live in an unreal world of polyannas and posies. But it isn’t this way. Good demands that we stand up and defend it; that we are willing to fight for it.

Good demands that we sometimes do what is difficult and uncomfortable. Good requires us to put aside our own comforts and give over security. Don’t be misled into thinking that good is all sunshine and roses. For those things come from manure and darkness.