The Best Policy

The past few days I’ve been hearing a lot of “good deed” stories on news featuring cab drivers who went out of their way to return to their passengers the valuable items they left in their taxis. I don’t know if it’s just because of the Christmas season that suddenly made samaritan stories fashionable again, but I can’t help but look at this fad of good will in the air strange.

I understand that we need all the inspirational stories that we could get, especially in the times we are in right now. We may admit or not, but indeed we do look  for resources that will remind us of the things we’ve forgotten in the midst of modern-day degenerate preoccupations and reacquaint us of the basic values this very world is run of, and that’s where responsible media are  there for. But isn’t it just weird that we still have to put on the pedestal something that is already “common sense” and inherent to us?

Honest cabbies are amazing people, sure, we have to talk about them. With a megaphone, if you will. But we all know that the reason why we tell ourselves of these stories is because we know deep down in us what we have become as a people. No, we are not being told of Mr. Honest Cabbie to reflect the admirable, exemplary in us; we are being told of him because he is a rare gem, because human nature has seemingly become in complete contrast of such behaviour. Stories like this is actually now being told to us in a way that it wishes to be a good example for us to follow, as if we’re no different from animals.

Isn’t that ironic? We assume that we are civilised, intelligent human beings but taking a look at us in this light, we appear as if nothing but inhibited, repressed criminals. Personally I have rarely heard of someone who did the right thing even though no one is looking. Usually the typical set-up is that when a person does something good it’s because there are people gawking, and if not he or she will definitely seek attention frenzy for it as soon as possible. Do we in fact know of anyone who gives out a helping hand and not document it for everyone to gush over? How about the celebrities; without papparazi I doubt if there’s really a drop of charitable blood running in them. Most of the time they’re just pulling the charity stunt so that they could twist the perception of people of them in their favor, the people being aware of their nauseating lifestyle excesses.

Us glamorizing good deeds is kind of alarming: it is promoting the train of thought that yes, go do feely-goody things, and you’ll be famous for it, you’ll be stalked senseless for it and people will think that you were not molested as a kid, that’s why. Now that shouldn’t be an issue, right; afterall anything that will galvanize the samaritan in people should be embraced. So is this saying that in this case, the end will justify the means? I don’t know about you, but I value integrity. I’m very much okay standing up for my principles. In this case, at least. I will not return what is not mine just because eyes are on me; I will return it because it is not mine and even if I want it I will work hard instead to get myself like it. I will help not because you say it is right and not wrong; I will help because I am a human being, it is inherent in me and because I am not an inhibited, repressed criminal.

Perhaps because the reason why good deed anecdotes have a sweet spot on news is because 99% of them are bad already, and a refreshment of plastic variety such as honest-stories-courtesy-of-cabbies lost somewhere among them are certainly most welcome. Bad news have made us so immune to them that indeed we need positive energies to jolt us from time to time.

But we are being hypocritical for needing so, because what we need is not good news from popular media; what we need is to make them in the the tiny chambers of our hearts and from there unleash them to the world without a megaphone and begging praises for it.

People must quit being self-righteous and welcome bad news. What do they expect anyway, when they’re partly responsible for them?