Wednesday, January 14, 2009

For Goodness Sake

How often do we use the word "goodness" without thinking about what we are saying? Goodness is the first of the seven virtues that Peter mentions. But what do we mean by goodness? Often we want to look good, feel good, do good but do we want to be good?
When we lived in Manila I had my wallet stolen by a truck driver who came to deliver water to our house. When I phoned the landlord I had to be careful not to accuse the driver of stealing my wallet as he might lose face. In eastern cultures they are more concerned about looking good than being good. But that is true in our culture as well. We may not talk about losing face but we want people to think good thoughts about us and think that we are good rather than being good.
By the way, I did get my wallet back. The truck driver returned it with everything in it.

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