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Lies Travelers Tell #1
How many times have you heard a traveller say “People the world over are generally good, they just want to live peaceful and happy lives just like you and I” and most of us whether we have travelled or not, agree. It’s a nice thought but it’s not complete, while travelling has certainly shown me [...]
Monday December 13 2010
How many times have you heard a traveller say “People the world over are generally good, they just want to live peaceful and happy lives just like you and I” and most of us whether we have travelled or not, agree. It’s a nice thought but it’s not complete, while travelling has certainly shown me this is the basic desire of most human beings reality and idealism are very different. It would be easy to blame all the bad stuff on those few who aren’t “most” of us but generally good people are more than capable of treading on their fellow man and we do so more often than we would like to believe.
This quote is from Gary Arndt, you might know his little site EverythingEverywhere.
Many people are afraid of the world beyond their door, yet the vast majority of humans are not thieves, murderers or rapists. They are people just like you and me who are trying to get by, to help their families and go about living their lives. There is no race, religion or nationality that is exempt from this rule. How they go about living their lives might be different, but their general goals are the same.
While I agree with what he says I disagree with the conclusion.
The statement “People are generally good” is simplistic and either naive or ignorant (I haven’t decided). Generalisations are about as useful as assumptions, and we all know what they say about them. Take off the rose colored glasses.
The reason? I’ve seen countless “generally good” people tread down on their fellow man in pursuit of those supposedly noble deeds of “just getting by” and “helping their families”, maybe I’ve even done it myself. I’m not suggesting those are bad things to pursue just that the conclusion that they are therefore good people makes a black and white situation out of what any traveller should know, that it is an extremely colourful world. You don’t need to travel the world to learn this, we all know someone at home who plays office politics, we all know the saying “Shit rolls downhill”. It really doesn’t matter if you are the victim or the perpetrator, you’ve probably been both. Getting ahead, for yourself or your family often means holding others down, no matter how small or unintended your actions are.
One thing I’ve learned from travelling is this…
People are not at the heart of it, good or bad, it is the good and bad they do that defines them.
danhaneveer
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3 Comments
Being a psychology major, I find this article extremely interesting and relevant to my field of study. Speaking from a strictly biological view point, it is innate in human nature to find things that give forth to one’s self-esteem. The tricky part here is that no one finds self-esteem in quite the same way. Some people find self-esteem through doing good deeds for someone else or putting someone else’s needs above their own. People like this tend to take the, “what good can I do today,” viewpoint on a way of living. Other people may find self-esteem through competition and successes between others. These people, maybe not to this extent but tend to take the, “how can I screw people,” viewpoint of living. They strive on ‘one upping’ others and find self-esteem through being the best or more successful. There are pros and cons to each of these viewpoints but overall I do believe people are good and find self-esteem through whatever truly makes them happy.
Thanks for the comment Matt. There aren’t too many people in the world who wake up in the morning thinking that. But even people who wake up thinking “what good can I do today?” eventually screw someone over, in big or small way doesn’t matter.
I truly believe in the last sentence of that post.
I disagree. I think people are generally good. Yeah good people do bad stuff too. But for the most part, when I meet people around the world they are like the people I know back home. They want to go on with their lives just like everyone else. They don’t wake up everyday going “how can I screw people?”
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