So we good?

 Philosophers, psychologists and cultural anthropologists have for generations wrestled with and debated the question "are humans fundamentally good or evil?"  I neither have an answer nor am I convinced it's an answerable question. First, how do we all agree on a definition of good, evil, or any of the space between? And even if we somehow, for the first time in history came to such a consensus, it would still only be the definitive answer for our corner booth within our own diverse culture.  If small pockets of people in other parts of the world also came to agree on these terms, you can bet their definitions would read differently than our own.  Indeed, some of the greatest villains in human history were not even breaking the law in their homeland.

 But that being said, I'd still like to put my two cents out there regarding the relative goodness of my fellow earth dwellers.  My primary motivation for this is simply that I don't think the goodness of people gets trumpeted nearly enough and certainly not in proportion to the magnified missteps and ugliness that we're bombarded with every time we click the remote or flick open the newspaper.

 A teenager shoveling the driveway of an elderly couple or an anonymous dinner tab being  paid for the table of soldiers may garner some Facebook likes, but it's not THE story that makes the news anchor's desk.  But there are countless examples of human kindness for every isolated story of corruption or cruelty.

 Think of all the people you know and associate with in the course of a normal week.  For most of us that list would be hundreds of people.  Now make a mental subset of all the people on that list who are defined by traits that are hateful, hurtful, and mean.  I know for me, the original list is many many times larger than the subset.  If this isn't true for you, let's talk over coffee about where you're hanging out...

 Much like the aforementioned skewed media coverage, when we have a run-in with one of the individuals on the "short list" it tends to dominate conversation and even our own private thoughts for an inordinate amount of time.   As I stew, I've forgotten all the examples of courtesy, generosity, and good humor that I experienced throughout the very same day.

 As the Dalai Lama has said "Out of 6 billion humans, the troublemakers are just a handful."

As we strive to be the best person we can be, for our own benefit as well as others, let's also recognize the good that already resides in and is daily displayed by us and the goofy collection of basically pretty darn good folks all around.