What makes a 'good' person?

Last week, I read a post by Restless about the definition of a 'good girl' which prompted me to start an indepth discussion on the same with R over the weekend. And that led to some interesting questions and thoughts which sowed the seeds for this post.

What makes a good person? How would you define a person as 'good'?

If a person swears often due to express their frustration, does that make them a bad person? [If you read Restless's post, apparently many of the people seem to think good girls do not swear]

If a person drinks a lot, does that make them a bad person?

If a person smokes like a chimney, does that make them a bad person?

If a person has casual sex and flings with willing partners, does that mean they are a bad person?

Anyway, I kinda came to the conclusion that none of the above matters. A good person is one who lives their life honestly according to their values (whatever they may be) without intentionally harming others.

Sounds straightforward, doesn't it?

Do most of you agree with me till now?

So by that definition of a good person, a person who murders another human being is a bad person. Right?

But...

If a person murders somebody to save someone else, does that mean they are really a bad person? Just as an example, a parent who finds out their child was being sexually abused by the neighbour plans and intentionally kills the paedophile, thus saving their child and other children from being victimised further. [Please note...I'm not condoning taking the law in your own hands. It's just a hypothetical]

Is this parent a bad person??

Yes, killing somebody is not good. Morally or legally. Hence, they engaged in a bad act. But does that necessarily make them a bad person? 

Similarly, what about a woman who has been abused for years by her husband and ends up killing him one day as that is the only means of escape? Surely this is not a bad person, is it? And what about a juvenile who assaults someone once but later on goes on to be a model citizen as an adult? Is this a bad person?

Based on these examples, I was again stumped as my definition of a good person didn't seem to hold up anymore.

However, I did come to one conclusion. You cannot judge whether a person is good or bad based solely on their behaviours within a certain period of time. You would have to know the motives behind their behaviours. You would have to look at their behaviours over a large period of time...even their lifetime, if possible.

In the end, the best I could think of was a good person is one who lives a genuine life according to their personal values [which do not have to be congruent with the cultural values!], whatever they may be. Behaviour is not necessarily the best way to evaluate the goodness or badness of an individual as we probably only see part of the picture.

The values are within the person...and while they are displayed via their behaviours, not all behaviours may be perceived as being good despite a good motivation behind it.

So what do you think?

What makes a good person?  

Until next time,

Cheers!!!