The True Measure of a Man
Being a good person is something that everyone strives to do. For most, it is a subconscious thing we do. For others being a good person is a way of life, not just a superficial “look at me and what I do,” but a deep spiritual understanding that everything one does in their daily life is beneficial to others around that person.
For starters, one must define the words good and bad. Dictionary.com’s definition of a good person is “a person who is good to other people.” Its definition for a bad person is “a person who does harm to others.” Both of these are vague so one must venture into the definitions of the words good and bad. The definition found at www.dictionary.com for the word good is, “Socially correct, proper, beneficial to others, valid or effectual under the law, characterized by honesty and fairness.” The definition of bad is, “Not achieving an adequate standard, evil, sinful, unfavorable, having undesirable or negative qualities.” It seems as if the public has determined the meaning of good and bad to be whatever they want it to mean. This paper is going to use good and bad in relation to people; where good is benefiting someone, and bad is hindering someone.
In the story of Robin Hood, Robin begins his life as a law abiding citizen. After his father is killed, the sheriff of Nottingham denies him his father’s place as a ranger. He is coerced into killing a deer in front of a large group of lawmen, making him a criminal. From that point in the story Robin becomes a member of the Sherwood men. These men do not just live in Sherwood Forest; they take a toll from anyone who is passing through the forest. All of these men are deemed outlaws by the local sheriff, and his military. By being pronounced as outlaws, it makes them bad people who break the laws. From a different point of view, they might be outlaws but they chose that life because they were breaking unjust laws. They as a group agreed to break any law they thought was unjust and unfair to the people of England, while pledging full allegiance to the king of England. In a public view these people were bad men, but one who came to know then could see them as good men who wanted the best for England and all of its people.
The story begins on a beautiful and secluded farm in the country of Florin where everything is peaceful. It is here that the Westley and Buttercup are introduced, and their affection for each other sets the mood of the story. The second is the castle of Florin where Humperdinck is introduced and is the source of the major conflict that arises during the story, as well as the final setting where the conflict is resolved. The third takes place on the Guilder Frontier. The Guilder frontier is the stretch of land separating Florin and Guilder (Florin’s sworn enemy). The frontier is divided into two sub-territories; the Countryside where Westley is put to the test to save Buttercup, and the Fire Swamp where Westley and Buttercup are tested by imminent danger. The final two locations are set in the country of Florin. They are the Pit of Despair, where Westley faces his death and the Thieves’ Forest where all hope seems to be lost.
The lines that define good and evil are not written in black and white; these lines tend to blur into many shades of grey allowing good and evil to intermingle with each another in a single human being. Man is not inherently good or evil but they are born innocent without any values or sense of morality until people impart their philosophies of life to them. In the words of John Locke:
Doing good deeds makes one a good person, right? One definition of a good person is someone who does good acts but doesn’t truly mean and feel it in their heart. Lane A. Dean Jr. is an example of
After reviewing the work of David Hume, the idea of a God existing in a world filled with so much pain and suffering is not so hard to understand. Humes’ work highlights some interesting points which allowed me to reach the conclusion that suffering is perhaps a part of God’s divine plan for humans. Our morals and values allow us to operate and live our daily lives in conjunction with a set of standards that help us to better understand our world around us and essentially allows us to better prepare for the potential life after life. For each and every day we get closer to our impending deaths and possibly closer to meeting the grand orchestrator of our universe.
The thought of good people brings warmth and joy to my heart. On a daily basis I would like to think that most, if not all, of the people we surround ourselves with strive to be good people. My initial thought that came to mind before I began to read David Foster Wallace’s “Good People” was that this would be a story about all the people around each other doing good for one another bringing happiness to me as a reader. The story took a huge turn as it did not talk about the good of the people, but the expectations and judgments we hold for others to be good people. My eyes and my heart opened up, as Wallace’s story unfolded, in which he used a controversial issue to make a point by tugging at the emotions of the reader. I now know that this story was not to make a statement about a very controversial issue, but to make us realize that being a good person doesn’t always mean we have to follow by the expectations or rules that have been set for us, but by being who we truly are and having an understanding for one another.
If we compare William Faulkner's two short stories, 'A Rose for Emily' and 'Barn Burning', he structures the plots of these two stories differently. However, both of the stories note the effect of a father¡¦s teaching, and in both the protagonists Miss Emily and Sarty make their own decisions about their lives. The stories present major idea through symbolism that includes strong metaphorical meaning. Both stories affect my thinking of life.
The story gives us a wide variety of characters, each bringing in their own definition of what being “good” is. The grandmother, the protagonist, sees herself as good, due to her status as a lady. She is a very judgmental character, who could find fault in anything and anyone, minus herself. She criticizes Bailey, her son, for his choice of vacation stating “I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it” (O’Connor 422). She snaps at John Wesley for his distasteful remarks against Georgia, and even the mother for not agreeing to go toTennessee (O’Connor 424). In addition, she deems her life more valuable than others and that The Misfit would and should spare
Shelton, Hon. Donald E., Gregg Barak, and Kim S. Young. “A Study of Juror Expectations and
The definition of “good” is not as black-and-white as approval and disapproval according to Aquinas. He defines “good” as more “enticing” or “desirable”. The most universal type of goodness is the idea that everything is good as everything is being.
All jurors in this particular case participated and took an active role, yet J1, J4, J7, J8, J12 were the most vocal. J1, J4, J7, and J8 had very strong personalities and naturally appeared to want to be active in the deliberations. J2 appeared to have a strong personality as well, but soon made their mind up about the situation. J1 and J7 as will be discussed later on appear to be the most similar and often support and defend each other throughout the jury deliberation. J12 was active merely because she had to out of self-defense. J12 was the only juror that did not agree with the majority’s conclusions about Ducic and constantly had to defend herself and provide rebuttals with little support from the other jurors. Nevertheless, it appears jurors with strong opinions on the case participate more in the ...
Since the dawn of modern civilization the terms good and evil have been used to describe the world and the various things within it. Things ranging from the concepts of the Devil, to the kid the cut in front you in the lunch line in the third grade, evil can be defined in many ways, however, evil is generally defined as something that goes against a single set of moral principles that society has defined. This is not true because evil is something that an individual perceives that they believe will cause them harm and goes against their individual moral beliefs, not some universal concept accepted by everyone.
...ly or mentally, a conscious effort to injure others that is no obvious benefit to the human race is not good. I believe that people try to do good most of the time. For example, the person had a motorcycle accident. He hated by a car on the local road and stocked under the car. The car was flamed. This news is from the yesterday of FOX25. When I saw many people stopped and together to get the car off the person and being without thinking about the flames, I am so grateful. The man was saved and no life injury and the story have a good ending. Accordingly, people are innately good. I think I am actually a good person. I like to open doors, push in chairs, listen to people, and help little kids. No meter outside the world how changed it doesn’t influence my good personality at all. I agree Carl Rogers’s theory people should be capable of becoming conscious good.
William Goldman writes these very words before immerging us in a novel filled with fantasy, love and adventure; but what prevails is the fact that he edited and picked pieces of the “original” to fit a mould for a child’s book- reducing it to something of a bedtime story for his son. The book was lessened to something for a child, and one does not destroy the aforementioned ideals in this case, but attempts to keep them instilled in the child for as long as possible - it becomes obvious as to why the story unfolds in this exaggerated way. He claims that the novel originally used the story to talk about the Western world. There is the stark truth of what the novel truly is, not a tale about love, so the author himself states that he leaves only the good parts, eliminating darker truths about the world, and political opinions. The Princess Bride was then not meant to tell story of adventure but was a satirical take on Western history. The entirety in which the “original” novel was edited and rewritten speaks volumes of how even this fairytale world, had the sole purpose of being an anecdote for something else, and the “true love” and “high adventure” in it implicated were not the focus of the
... Robin Hood -- Bold Outlaw of Barnsdale and Sherwood. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. .
What makes a person good? Immanuel Kant possession was, the only thing that is good without qualification, and this is a “good will". The right motive is to do the right things, to duty and respect moral law. For Kant, a good will is not good because of what it brings about or helps to bring about, but because it is good in itself.