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What makes you a good/bad person?

posted by sidewalker_Principle on AskPhuks

Specifically what do you think it is about you that qualifies you as either good or bad?

For me, I think I'm a good person because I'm an empath. I feel intense emotions in other people's perspectives and I feel that helps me to understand people better. Therefore most of the time I will position in my mind how my actions/words would be best said so as to minimize negativity. I don't actively seek to harm others and I don't consider myself to be better than anybody else.

I take that back, I do think there are people I am better than, but nothing to do with race or sex. Simply because me not wanting to hurt others makes me better than those that do.

On the flip side, I think I'm a bad person because if you've fallen off my empathy radar than I will never give a fuck about you again. Its harsh, and I can't help it, but if something happens to make me stop feeling emotions in your point of view then I can be devastatingly nonchalant as to what happens to you.

Specifically what do you think it is about you that qualifies you as either good or bad? For me, I think I'm a good person because I'm an empath. I feel intense emotions in other people's perspectives and I feel that helps me to understand people better. Therefore most of the time I will position in my mind how my actions/words would be best said so as to minimize negativity. I don't actively seek to harm others and I don't consider myself to be better than anybody else. I take that back, I do think there are people I am better than, but nothing to do with race or sex. Simply because me not wanting to hurt others makes me better than those that do. On the flip side, I think I'm a bad person because if you've fallen off my empathy radar than I will never give a fuck about you again. Its harsh, and I can't help it, but if something happens to make me stop feeling emotions in your point of view then I can be devastatingly nonchalant as to what happens to you.

15 comments

[–] smallpond 1 points (+1|-0)

Edited

I like to add potential to the mix.

Consider on one hand a person who has a harsh upbringing and associated mental scars and hence realistically can only hope to be a slightly better than average person, at worst a plague on society, and turns out average.

On the other hand a person may grow up wealthy and well adjusted, gifted with intelligence health and charm, and realistically be capable of doing great things for the world. If this blessed person squanders their gifts and turns out slightly better than average, who is the better person of the two?

[–] sidewalker_Principle [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

I see what you're saying. I feel like its not so much as how many "good points" you get or how far up the positive side you go, but more of a focus on the displacement a person makes in their life. What is the magnitude of the total distance somebody has traveled on the moral spectrum.

Take for instance the first man born into brutality, he began way low on the totem pole of morality yet worked his way up against all odds to barley touch midpoint which counts as zero. I'm assuming this is on a regular number line with positive and negative numbers. His total work that he put into changing himself could very well be greater than somebody who has always been "good" or tried to be "good".

[–] smallpond 0 points (+0|-0)

It ties into not taking your judgement of others too seriously - you can't know all the cards they were dealt in life.