Everyone knows what a “good deed” is. This is an action that brings some benefit not to the person himself, but to his fellow man. Thus, altruism acts as a measure of human morality. If a person lives mainly for others and quite a bit for himself, then society believes that this person is good - kind.
In this article, the very concept of “good deed” will be investigated, and examples of good deeds, the most common ones, will be used as material. Those that people meet constantly. But first, the concepts of “good” and “evil” should be considered.
good and evil
It may be that what is written here is somewhat common, but it should be said about this: “good” and “evil” are relative concepts. It all depends on the value system that a person accepts. For believers, these are not relative categories, but absolute and at the same time quite specific: that which accompanies the knowledge of God is good, and that which contributes to the estrangement of man from God is bad. And no points of view are needed. Moreover, God is responsible for good, and man himself is responsible for evil. Very comfortably. But in fact, instead of God as a coordinate system that defines human behavior, almost any phenomenon of the world can be put, for example, pleasure - this way hedonists are obtained. In their place of good and evil, pleasure and suffering, respectively.
It follows: the understanding of good and evil can be individual, but at the same time, the clear conviction that between good and evil there is a clear border that does not need to be crossed remains unchanged. True, all the same, the example of good deeds is always different for everyone. It is this contradiction in evaluation that gives rise to endless human conflicts. It turns out both funny and sad: the bad does not arise because of the absolute evil that prevails in the world, but because of a different understanding of the good, which is individual for each person. To prove this, you need to take the most trivial examples of good deeds, or rather, their results that a person sees or hears daily: life and death, pleasure and suffering, love and hate.
Life and death
When any person looks at life from a bird's eye view, he will say without a doubt that life is good, but when the time comes for concrete decisions, then the perspective changes. For example, a person is seriously ill; medications do not help him. What life is evil or good for him? The question that embodied in the problem of euthanasia. It logically follows that good deeds, examples of them will be interpreted depending on the solution of this ethical dilemma.
Pleasure and misery
Everyone knows that pleasure is good, and suffering is evil. With this thought in mind, almost all modern people live. But is she fair? Does such a conviction lead to the “Good Deeds” magical land? Life examples prove that not always. Pleasure and suffering are seasonings, without which life would be fresh. But everyone knows what happens if you do not comply with the dosage.
Let us turn to specific examples. A parent wants to make his child's life easier and gives him money just like that (an example of good deeds). Noble? Yes. Is this good for the child? No. Why? Because easy money received without labor promises future suffering and moral decay, of course, if such help is systematic. Magically, the child’s pleasure transforms (or even mutates) into suffering that has not yet occurred.
Love and hate (dislike)
It would be extremely unfortunate for mankind if nature had suddenly hated it with all its world soul. Disasters and other troubles would begin on Earth. But nature (or God) so far loves humanity, and this is the main example of good deeds that people have in front of themselves at the moment.
Is parental love good or evil?
When a person is born, it is almost always a joy for parents. First of all, the mother surrounds the newcomer to the world with boundless and inexhaustible care. And now attention, a question: is maternal care an example of good deeds? Sure! But only sometimes does parental care become a stranglehold strangling the child, his independent impulses. Because parents (mother or father) have their own plans for the future of their daughter or son.
There are women (and men) who beat their children, taking out evil on them for a failed life, without ceasing to love them.
Some women give birth from loneliness and surround the only joy of their lives with uncontrolled care, the latter as a result of which with 90% probability will break the child’s life. Because such mothers do not know how to let their children into an independent life. "Umbilical cord rupture" in this case involves pain for either one side or the other.
Looking at all this, one wants to say in the words of Kurt Vonnegut (an American writer - a classic of the 20th century): "Love me a little less, but treat me like a human being."
Is tragic love bad or good?
Now another case: a boy and a girl love each other, and everything is wonderful. But then something breaks, and the girl leaves the boy or vice versa. The abandoned man considers the failed "love for life" as an inescapable tragedy. Less persistent young people (both girls and boys) prefer to go into the arms of death, without waiting for the development of events. This is how love turns from good into evil. Such are good deeds, paradoxical examples of them.
