The World of Grandpa Don

"If you don't have something good to say ..."

This is usually about other people but it also applies to ourselves. The sentence can be completed with: " ... about yourself, don't say anything at all. 

I wrote about choosing to be good on the "Choices" page. One of the important things about being good is that you are known as a good person. Some find that threatening. They don't want to seem, well ... not part of the group. The problem is that in this hedonistic age, many take pride in not being good. 

Even those who are fundamentally good are inclined to pretend to not be good at times. They say they do things or say they would like to do things that are not in their nature to do.

There are three things wrong with this. It gives the wrong impression and could hurt the person's reputation. Secondly, it desensitizes the person to the wrongness of the things they are claiming as their own. Finally, it enforces the common perception that "everyone is doing it". 

Don Plefka
02/12/03