Do good
"To be doing good deeds is man's most glorious task."
Sophocles There are a couple lines in a show that I watched as a child, Boy Meets World, that always resonated with me:
Mr. Feeny: Believe in yourselves. Dream. Try. Do good.
Topanga: Don't you mean "do well?"
Mr. Feeny: No, I mean "do good."
For background, Mr. Feeny was a teacher, mentor, and role model for the children in the show (including Topanga). The show itself was the typical children's sit-com with each episode culminating with a lesson. I loved this show and watched almost every episode. I must have watched more than a hundred lessons through the show and this one was the one that stuck with me. This is the one that I remembered.
Why? Because those three lines have the ability to succinctly emphasis that it is more important to "do good" than to "do well." And this distinction is one that I rarely see vocalized.
Imagine you are sitting in a room surrounded by a hundred screens. All of the screens are on, all of them playing something different. The volume on each device is at different levels and the screens are different sizes. You try to hear what each has to say, but naturally you gravitate to the biggest screen with the loudest volume.
This post is me trying to turn off every screen besides one. It just so happens to be one of the smallest and tuned to the lowest volume. This post is about trying to talk about a distinction that doesn't get enough play time.
Throughout my life, I have always been pushed to "do well." Whether it was school or work, the message is the same: "be successful." But when they said that, they really meant "get an A+!" and "get a great evaluation!"
To be clear, I am not trying to convince you to flunk out of school or get fired. I'm not proclaiming that "doing well" is bad.
What I am saying is that at some point people stop encouraging you to dream. At some point, people stop encouraging you to try new things. And at some point, people stop encouraging you to "do good." And when those points come, and when the largest and loudest "screens" are telling you to forget everything else and focus on acing that test, remember there is more to life than being valedictorian or getting promoted.
Side tangent: I absolutely hate talking about values. While I think they are extremely important to have, I hate the notion that if I have a value that someone doesn't, that they are in some way a worse person. That isn't true. Values make up who a person is and what they believe in, but they do not make you or another person in any way superior than another.
With that said, I believe wholeheartedly that I have a responsibility to leave the earth a better place than I received it. I don't have any scientific evidence or proof as to why I think this is so important, it is simply a value that is instilled in me.
I mention this because even if you don't share this value, I don't want you to dismiss this idea. I would still encourage you to "do good." If you aren't doing it because of a value, do it for you. It has the ability to provide a level of warmth and perspective that you will be hard pressed to find anywhere else.
For me, "doing good" opened a whole new room of proverbial screens. It introduced me to perspectives that were incredibly alien to the bubble that had become my world. Those perspectives humbled me, they helped me better understand how much more good this world needs, and most importantly showed me how relatively easy I could help.
The "results" of good deeds are the most powerful. Whether it is a person's smile or a transformed habitat, each had the remarkable ability to directly connect to my heartstrings and metaphorically yank me out of just about any funk. It is incredibly gratifying.
And while my contributions to date aren't nearly what they could or should be, I am infinitely more proud of the moments where I helped make society better than any "A+" or outstanding evaluation I ever received.
So while it might not always be playing on the largest screen in your life, please never forget to prioritize "doing good."