Good People
Invariably, when a challenge of some kind happens, and it is followed by an act of human kindness, someone will say, “I’m glad to know there are still good people in the world!”
It’s lovely to see kindness in action: the lost wallet returned intact, the missing pet searched for and found, the flat tire changed by a nameless stranger, a food bill anonymously paid…on and on and on.
And that’s my point. It goes on and on and on.
Good is actually all around. (Love, too. Thank you, Love Actually!)
I’ve spent so much time in my life fixated on the ills of existence that I found them everywhere. Things didn’t go as I expected. They weren’t my idea of right. They made me feel uncomfortable. I was challenged and didn’t care for it.
It was exhausting. Truly. Misery just wears me out. So I gave it up. Not with a snap of my fingers but with conscious, every day, how-else-can-I-look-at-this thinking. And then, almost imperceptibly, my world began to shift. The challenge was a blessing…the wrong was ultimately more right than I could have orchestrated…the discomfort preceded growth…and lack of expectations opened undreamed of opportunities. And all of this was always there. Nothing changed. And everything changed—because I changed.
The world is good. And challenging. And good. Life is good. And challenging. And good. People are good. And challenging. And good.
We sometimes do stupid things…hurtful things…things filled with ego and selfishness and our weakest selves. But the truth of us—the heart of us—is goodness. I see it every day, everywhere. And the more I open my eyes to it, the more I see.
There have always been good people in the world. We usually just call them people.