Nothing Like Doing Good - Pass it On.

Hello Friend,

Welcome to my new blog. This is my first post and here, I'd like to discuss the issue of selfishness as the stumbling block to thinking and doing good, wholeheartedly with no strings attached.

If there is any human weakness that we can regard as the main culprit in all of the wretchedness and suffering in the world, it is: SELFISHNESS. 

No one would like to admit that he/she is selfish. But that doesn't change the reality of the fact that everyone is selfish, to one degree or another. From the least of us, to the greatest, everyone is guilty of selfishness at some point(s) in his/her life. Anyone who says otherwise is blind to his/her carnal proclivities.

Listen to what the Bible says about selfishness: "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet but you cannot have what you want ... because (of) wrong motives, that you spend what you get on your pleasures." (James 4:1.3)

What is the antidote to selfishness? 

There are several ways that this carnal tendency is overcome and reversed to perform feats beneficial to the human race and the environment. One way is by putting to good use the talents we possess by helping others improve their lives and making this world a better place. People who go out of their way to make a difference is the best example I can cite to drive home the point. 

There is an inherent good in everyone of us. God created us so. All that's needed is to awaken that slumbering giant to perform the greatest of feats everyone of us is capable of achieving in this life, if we only put our minds and energies to it, and that is: doing good for others without any thought of receiving anything in return. 

That is my purpose for this blog. I admit my own shortcomings on the issue of "doing good" and  so I thought of starting some kind of "good works" to make up for it. 

I'll be telling you more about my plans in my succeeding posts, per chance that some of you would join me in the endeavor to improve the lives of ordinary folks deprived of life's comforts and conveniences, not to mention basic necessities, due to poor education, scarce information,  and livelihood opportunities.

In the meantime, let me share with you this wonderful poem that pictures vividly what is bound to happen when selfishness reigns in the heart of man.

The Cold Within

Six humans trapped by happenstance
In dark and bitter cold
Each one possessed a stick of wood,
Or so the story's told.

Their dying fire in need of logs,
The first woman held hers back.
For, of the faces around the fire,
She noticed one was black.

The next man looking 'cross the way
Saw one not of his church,
And couldn't bring himself to give
The fire his stick of birch.

The third one sat in tattered clothes
He gave his coat a hitch,
Why should his log be put to use
To warm the idle rich?

The rich man just sat back and thought
Of the wealth he had in store,
And how to keep what he had earned
From the lazy, shiftless poor.

The black man's face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from sight,
For all he saw in his stick of wood
Was a chance to spite the white.

The last man of this forlorn group
Did naught except for gain,
Giving only to those who gave
Was how he played the game.

Their logs held tight in death's stilled hands
Was proof enough of sin.
They didn't die from the cold without,
They died from -- THE COLD WITHIN.

-- James Patrick Kinney