INTERNET GRANDFATHER®

Good Will

                                         I often think about concepts like good will and try to see how they fit with other concepts. I try to think about how to be a good person and I recently turned to the concept of good will. My thinking led me to compare good will to kindness. Good will is a little different from kindness. Good will seems to me more generalized:  While kindness may follow from good will, good will is a friendly disposition towards our fellows, connoting good cheer and amiability. In my very first column, I said that "kindness is free to give, it costs you nothing. It can only make you feel better about yourself. It may result in a small reward: a smile or a wave or grateful eyes. It might change the world." Good will is the same as kindness in at least that respect: It doesn't cost anything.

                                        The French philosopher, Blaise Pascal, is the author of a famous wager. He believed that you must believe in God. If God exists, you go to heaven, if not, your loss is negligible. One of my favorite columnists says a similar thing about good will. If good will is reciprocated, much is gained and, if not, nothing is lost. Therefore, pure reason requires us to show good will. Sometimes our good will is met with a stony surliness or open hostility; that seems like a cost but we can learn to ignore such responses and continue to demonstrate good will.

                                                  We don't even need to think about reciprocity to display good will. We need merely to think about ourselves and the way we would like to live our lives. If we want to be good people, we need to think about others and treat them well, even, sometimes, try to help them to be good people. If we don't begin our efforts with good will, who will listen to us, who will follow our guidance?

                                                    On reflection, I think that's the best answer to why should we show good will towards others: Usually, without it, we won't be heard and we will lose our chance to help others.

4-2-07