Are you Good?

The Hierarchy of Good

Let me give you a Hierarchy of Good, using my car-guard metaphor:

The first level — Giving Reluctantly — this kind of good happens when you toss a few coins to the car guard but you feel annoyed doing it.

The next level would be when you give less than fitting but cheerfully, for example you smile and give R2-00 even though you could afford more.

The next level - Giving after being asked - You only give when the car guard approaches you for money.

Do you give only after being asked for a tip? Or do you give a tip without being asked for a tip?

The next level - Giving before being asked - You offer a tip before the car guard has a chance to ask.

Next level – You are unknown to the car-guard - You secretly leave money for the car guard through a friend or colleague who delivers it.

Next – Car guard unknown to you - You donate to a fund that supports car guards, not knowing who benefits.

Next - Neither knows the other - You contribute anonymously to a community trust that ensures fair wages for all car guards in the area.

The supreme level of goodness is where you educate the car guard to better themselves. It is the old ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.’ This proverb emphasizes the long-term value of providing people with the skills and knowledge to be self-sufficient, rather than just giving them temporary aid. While it is often mistakenly attributed to ancient Chinese philosophers, the saying first appeared in English in a slightly different form in a 1885 novel by Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie.

References:

Alfred Adler. What Life Should Mean to You. George Allen & Unwin Ltd. 1938. Pages 200-201.

Hare, R., & Neumann, C. (2008). Psychopathy as a clinical and empirical construct.. Annual review of clinical psychology, 4, 217-46 . https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.3.022806.091452.

Arendt, H., & Evil, T. (2021). Appendix 3: Hannah Arendt and the Banality of Evil. The Moral Powers. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119657828.app3.

Hare, R. (1996). Psychopathy. Criminal Justice and Behaviour, 23, 25 - 54. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854896023001004.

Rae, G. (2019). Hannah Arendt, evil, and political resistance. History of the Human Sciences, 32, 125 - 144. https://doi.org/10.1177/0952695119833607.

Carrim, S. (2018). The Legacy of Hannah Arendt’s Banality of Evil. Review of Human Rights. https://doi.org/10.35994/rhr.v3i1.83.

Shermer M. The science of good and evil: why people cheat, gossip, care, share, and follow the golden rule. 1st ed. New York: Times Books; 2004.

Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Matnot Ani’im (Laws Concerning Gifts to the Poor), Chapter 10, sections 7-14, Maimonides lays out the eight degrees of giving.

Mrs. Dymond, By Miss Thackeray a novel: Anne Isabella, Lady Ritchie, nee Thackeray Paperback – July 26, 2016. Publisher : ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1535497238