Be Good and You Will Be Lonesome

"Be good and you will be lonesome." —Mark Twain

So what is being good?  A peek into my dictionary shows that the word “good” is an adjective more than anything else, a descriptor. The dictionary  says: high quality, excellent, superior, as it ought to be, right, proper, admirable, satisfactory, desirable,  polite, does what is right, doing right, just, kind, friendly, honorable, worthy, reliable, dependable, real, genuine, agreeable,  pleasant, beneficial, advantageous, useful, satisfying, enough, full, skillful, clever, acceptable, actual, serious.

I have to say, I am certain I could never live up to the entire list of qualities displayed under the definition of the word  "good".


My dictionary also has some definitions based on the word “good” being a noun – 1 benefit, advantage, use 2 that which is good 3. A good thing 4. good people 5. Philosophy – something that is considered as belonging to the world’s moral order.

Finally, something we mere mortals can work with. The philosophical concept of that which is good is that which is moral. 

I was thinking that Mark Twain and I might be having a parting of the ways on this issue.  If you are good are you destined to be lonesome? I like being around good people.  I seem to know quite a few, actually. Perhaps I just keep good company.  Of course, the people I think of as morally good aren’t generally the same people I know who run around announcing through a trumpet just how good they are.


 Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness.  If he listens to it and acts on it, he is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most.  It is not complicated but it takes courage.  It takes courage for a person to listen to his own good.  Pablo Casals

   

Thinking about it further, I realized that it is true.  When you decide to be good, it can certainly feel lonely.  Especially if you are young and you haven’t had much time to practice at it. Your friends walk away to have a “good time” doing bad things. Your coworkers decide that wrong is right and you are left standing by the water cooler alone.  Turn from taunting someone and others may decide to taunt you instead. Yes, doing right can feel lonely and It can take courage, as well.

Be good and you will find that you have the true respect of others. You will have acquired a habit that lasts a lifetime and gives huge dividends in self-respect and self-worth.

“The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty, and truth.  To make a goal of comfort or happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.”  Albert Einstein

Don’t join the herd of cattle. Be an individual.  Be good even if it can feel just a bit lonely at times. Your good reputation cannot be bought or traded and the true joy of living comes from having high ideals.