To truly be a good person you must understand what being bad means and avoid it’s pitfalls. It takes very little to change a good person into a bad one and vice versa. People can go along all their lives being good or bad and not even realize which one they are until they are faced with having to make defining choices.

Throughout my entire life I have struggled with being good. I really believe in the importance of this. My son seems to have inherited this trait much to his dismay at times. He has to be honest and hardworking in spite of himself. Being good does not mean giving a lot of money to the poor or not stealing or killing or being any other type of criminal. Of course while those are certainly things to avoid, doing so does not automatically make an individual “good”. Many people avoid being criminals just because they don’t want to get into trouble and many others give a lot of money to the needy just to feel good about themselves and to look good to others. This is not being good.

A really good person will not lie, cheat, steal or harm others because it is the “bad” thing to do. They really do not want to be bad. Treating others the way they want to be treated is a way of living everyday for people who are good. Goodness cannot be faked for very long. A good person will still be good even when no one else is looking. 

Goodness cannot be bought. You choose to be good or bad. It is not always easy to be a good person. If it was the world would be a much better place. Goodness can even feel like a curse at times. You may find yourself wishing you could just tell a lie or take that little bit of money from someone you feel is less deserving. Being good can be a hard row to hoe if you are around a lot of people who are not good. They will take advantage of your goodness if you aren’t careful.

A good person may have to stand up to ridicule from people who think they are phony. People who do not understand true goodness may also consider kindness and innate goodness to be a drawback. They may call good people suckers or chumps. A good person will not give in to such ideas. They may have to stand up and suffer for what they believe. In the end being good or bad is a personal choice and everyone has to decide what type of person they want staring back at them when they look in the mirror at the end of the day.