Kinds of Goodness

Sometimes, although not quite as often, people who are known to be nice are not nice to me. That is not a good script but fortunately it demystifies any thought I have of being special or worthy of special treatment.

Also, people who are not known to be nice, have been nice to me. These are people who, with the right conditions, are good. Let's call these people Conditional Good-ers. Some people who are Active Good-ers. They're actively finding ways to do good things for their communities and others. They're the ones who bring you soup, who volunteer twice a week, who constantly feed people and animals, who check up on you, and so on. Then there are those who are passive but usually take the opportunity to do something good when it presents itself. They're those who help the school kids cross the road if it's on their way, who tip the Donation Ads on their favourite channels, who sign a petition when the time is right, and so on. These people are the Good Opportunists.

Last year, I saw Dr. Abraham Verghese’s 2011 TED Talk about why it is still important for physicians to conduct physical examinations, touching their patients, and having close contact with them. A few months later, a local trader complained to me about how distant the doctors in our big hospital are. He said they'd surround your bed and still be looking at their tablets and charts instead of actually engaging you to have a better perspective as to your tests, scans, or whatever it is that's on their systems. He said many people feel less confident about the treatments they're getting and quite often people feel misdiagnosed. He echoed the same sentiments from the 2011 Talk. He has never heard of Dr. Verghese but you know how ideas and sentiments get around. It's interesting how ideas can originally occur in two or several parts of the world independent of each other because humanity is universal.

Like the doctor-patient relationship, I think about the effect of distance in our selfless acts. Distance is the difference between donating to some foreign aid and feeding a homeless person in your corner. Of course you can do both, I'm not matching one against the other. Although, that distance provides cover against the burden of commitment and responsibility. The homeless person you helped will see you tomorrow and you might feel some type of way wondering if they'd eaten anything since morning. Same goes for, say, that junior colleague you gave a ride to because they're on your way and you begin to feel responsible for their commute the next day. Same goes for not subscribing to that donation website because you don't want to be constantly reminded of the suffering of those in need.

Then again, the fulfillment and feel-good emotions you feel can easily double when this distance is small. It feels better to help an online friend who you've understood their problems than other random people online who are in need even when you're sure those needs are genuine.

A chasm makes you a Conditional Good-er, while a small distance makes you an Active Good-er because the Active Good-er isn't bothered by the commitment or responsibility to goodness.

PICTURE

Picture the transformation of an actor in their next role. Picture the actor learning a new skill for the role. Say, picture Tom Hardy as Bane; a regular size actor working out and bulking to be huge. Picture Keanu Reeves as John Wick, learning about guns, learning to shoot tons of guns. Picture Olivia Colman's regal transformation as Queen Elizabeth II.

While the actor's goal is to attain some level of a skill, the actor is not primarily motivated by the role. The actor is motivated by acting--- the ability to transform into the character on screen and to do so convincingly.

The actor doesn't become an anarchist, an assassin with good morals, a royalty or anything else they portray. For the goal is not embodied, the goal is temporarily utilized for the ultimate goal which is acting. But what if some of these skills can be of some good to the actor in real life?

We are good actors playing good parts. Sometimes we play very well, sometimes we play Ok. Selfless acts are roles we write for ourselves in our everyday scripts. Play the roles well enough and you'll become a typecast. Play the roles well enough and you'll finally become a method actor. The actor who becomes inseparable from their good roles. Your world is your set, and Active Good-er you have become.