I NEED "PROOF"

LIfe is gettin harder and harder for me in recent months, i had this idea that my usual positive outlook on life in general could overcome any hardship thrown at me but i longer feel this way. i look around me at the interactions between people and i see less and less civility on an ever decreasing scale.

I can no longer see the silver lining in ANYTHING, because it simply isnt there, and even when i think i catch a glimpse of it i am quickly proven wrong. Even within my own family civility is lost, there isnt event the benefit of the doubt to hold on to when the doubt is shredded by a persons own actions (or inactions).

So i am here among strangers ( because even my family are becoming strangers to me ) to ask...

Is there ANY good left in the world?
Are there any people out there who do things for others without some type of personal gain...i.e., i have a family member who used to go down to the local church with me to help hand out food to those who need it, then they stopped coming and when i asked why they told me simply...
"i did it because i didnt want to go to look bad in front of god and i dont beleive in god anymore"

Now dont get me wrong im NOT making this a discussion about religion, i just want to know if there is anyone out there who does things "not for profit" or just becasue it is a nice thing to do.
I am NOT talkin about the token "pay it forward" type of thinking where someone helps a lady across the street because they hope that karma will repay them for thier deeds.

I AM talking about just good people who go out of thier way to do good things for others, with no expectation of karmic return or other personal benefit as a final result.

Are there any GOOD people left out there?

PROVE IT!! becasue right now i just dont see it...anywhere
Show me a RECENT video or picture or a link to a news article or SOMETHING because i just cant beleive some words put together to provide false hope, i know false hope all too well and that is NOT what im looking for.

SO show me ATS, what is the world really made of....

ill be surprised if this thread even gets past page 1

i know exactly how you feel, sometimes it seems like there's no humanity left in humanity doesn't it. however, this will at least make you smile

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by owtFsink

I don't have pictures to prove it for you, but last week I was mowing my yard on my riding mower when I heard another motor running. I looked up and it was a neighbor from down the street mowing my yard with his push mower. I turned my mower off and walked over to the part of the yard where he was mowing and asked him what was up. He said when he drove by he saw me mowing and figured he'd help me out by mowing where I couldn't reach with the riding mower. I thought that was pretty nice!!!

Can you find a good person within yourself?

If so, than there is still humanity left in the world isn't there?

Question yourself. Question your beliefs and ideas.

Try to avoid associating your ideas with your persona.
You can change your mind tomorrow and have a different idea and still be the same person as yesterday.

Originally posted by owtFsink

I AM talking about just good people who go out of thier way to do good things for others, with no expectation of karmic return or other personal benefit as a final result.

Are there any GOOD people left out there?

I do go out of my way to do good things for others, and I have absolutely no proof. Not a shred of evidence. Why? Because I do it for absolutely no personal gain. I don't volunteer at a shelter or anything, I just help people, one at a time, whether they ask or not. It's just the right thing to do.

reply to post by owtFsink

Is there ANY good left in the world?
Are there any people out there who do things for others without some type of personal gain...i.e., i have a family member who used to go down to the local church with me to help hand out food to those who need it, then they stopped coming and when i asked why they told me simply...
"i did it because i didnt want to go to look bad in front of god and i dont beleive in god anymore"

There is a rule that I have observed to be true. If you take a reward (smoking for instance), a debt is created. In the simple example of smoking, the debt is in the lungs and with the cancer that develops. We are living in a decaying society that is suffering under the weight of debt. Individually, nationally and globally. The way to view this is by seeing it for what it is. Debt is caused by taking something that was not earned. This makes us a thief. We are all in this together by the way. None of us are free from this particular debt of taking from the world.

The simple way to flip this is to give. If taking reward causes suffering, then giving suffering forward in the form of effort and work reverses the direction. What follows suffering is always reward. True and lasting reward can only be earned. Suffer a job and get a paycheck. Find a job you enjoy, but you will still be required to give at a high level to reap the reward of your labor. Labor is the key. A Gardner must suffer the hoe.

The fact that the majority of the world is blind to this direction makes the person that knows the secret most unique. You can complain all day long, but complaining is a reward that is taken. We can judge others, but like I said, we are all in this together. Judging another human being is the same duplicity of taking reward, but claiming ourselves to be beyond the thing we judge. The truth is that we are equally judged by judging others. The only solution is to suffer on purpose. Suffering will come no matter what we do in life. The person that acts with wisdom knows how to manage the path to reward.

If you want to see the man that is doing this well, look in the mirror when you decide to be that man.

Yeah, there is still good. The thing is good is not only a very subjective term it also varies in degrees. In the past week I've seen someone help an old lady by giving her tax advice for nothing but a thank you. When a kid dropped one of his toys someone picked it handed it to the kid. The mothers hands were full. An employee was patient and kind with a difficult patron.

You see the problem comes in when we expect people to act in certain ways. They never will and we will always end up disappointed. None of us own a monopoly on what "good" is or should be. Depending on someones life circumstances mustering up a smile may have been the kindest thing they could do or perhaps by staying silent they didn't let their bad mood infect others. You never know what is going on in someone elses mind. They could have had the worst possible day imaginable to them. Just because people are not living up to your expectations of good doesn't mean good isn't there.

I'm not saying some people couldn't use a dose of common decency and people are waaaaay oversensitive so believe me I get your point. Be kind and do good things because you want to and not because you want anything in return and for them to act the same in kind.

reply to post by ladyteeny


Im sorry, i know it was your best intent to show the video but i think you missed the point of my intent...
from the comment left by the poster of the video..

Rescues like this one cost a lot of money, so please help us by making a small donation.

sorry again for the comment i deleted, upon further thought i realized you did not fail, you did better than i hoped you would, TY for taking the time to post here!

You want to see Love and Good in the world? Easy! Look in your local newspaper at the obituaries.

Find someone who died young. Say, mid-thirties.

Attend the funeral.

Watch as their children pass before the coffin of someone they cherished. Know that they will never feel the warmth of that person's hugs, the chime of that person's laughter. Know that the people they grow into will never be known by the person in that casket. Also know that whoever is in that casket affected the viewers in such a way that they would react so. That they were loved so much by those surviving, that they put away their shame and pride and wept openly for them. That their presence would be so missed, that the soul itself had shattered and leaked those precious tears.

I don't say this to bring you down, but to show you that our problems are generally petty. That everyone is loved by someone, without thought of reward. Everyone loves. And there is nothing evil about love. Instead of looking outside for something good, look right in your own home. Look to the people you love and know that what's between you is good and selfless. Tell them you love them. Tell them that you wished the WORLD could feel what you feel for them. And that they are the answer to your original question. Say it now, because you can't say it from a coffin or an urn.

Originally posted by muzzleflash
Can you find a good person within yourself?

If so, than there is still humanity left in the world isn't there?

Question yourself. Question your beliefs and ideas.

Try to avoid associating your ideas with your persona.
You can change your mind tomorrow and have a different idea and still be the same person as yesterday.

You make valid assertions, and it is something i thought of while making this post...
witht that said i have to ask myself...is there any humanity left in the world, like i said these past months have been both physically and mentally draining on me... did i fail us all?

I like to think that my personal beliefs are greater than myself, i want soo bad to make a positive change in the world but it seems more and more like that only change anyone can make may not be a positive one at all. what kind of action would it take to make such a change in the world.
Tommorow IS another day but like today, i will be thankfull to just wake up

Here's something I have started...

Give it a try...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

It's rewarding and a great way to meet people.

Originally posted by DetectiveT

You see the problem comes in when we expect people to act in certain ways. They never will and we will always end up disappointed. None of us own a monopoly on what "good" is or should be. Depending on someones life circumstances mustering up a smile may have been the kindest thing they could do or perhaps by staying silent they didn't let their bad mood infect others. You never know what is going on in someone elses mind. They could have had the worst possible day imaginable to them. Just because people are not living up to your expectations of good doesn't mean good isn't there.

Im am going to remember this, they are "good" words.
I suppose i do hold people (myself included) to a standard that is perhaps unachievable, based on ideas and actions that i wish i would see more often.

reply to post by owtFsink


A neighbor up the way just brought me a dozen fresh eggs from her hen house...I gave her a couple of bars of my home made soap in exchange..may be.not the proof you are looking for. But still, proves to me that people are good at heart, and you don't need money to get good things.....

Des

Get out of your house and travel a bit, stop looking at ATS and the MSM.

I went on a road trip recently, and was reminded how much Californians can be complete D-bags, Its like the saying goes before you diagnose yourself with depression make sure your not just surrounded by A-holes...

As soon as I got to Oregon, the people where nicer, they obeyed the traffic rules, and every interaction with someone from gas station attendant to hotel clerk was a level of friendless that I found down right disturbing as a Californian.

Originally posted by whyamIhere
Here's something I have started...

Give it a try...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I quoted you to add another link to your story, the idea of "paying it forward" is a good one and your personal story is touching and brings me some hope, but at the same time i have to ask ( not just you but in general )
is that all there is too it, we should do somethings for others just so it comes back around to us? is that a selfish thought on my part?

Originally posted by owtFsink

is that all there is too it, we should do somethings for others just so it comes back around to us? is that a selfish thought on my part?

The thing is i don't think it's supposed to come back. You're just "passing it forward" not "passing it around." Selfish people expect it to come back to them, while good people just to it to do it.

Originally posted by owtFsink

Originally posted by whyamIhere
Here's something I have started...

Give it a try...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I quoted you to add another link to your story, the idea of "paying it forward" is a good one and your personal story is touching and brings me some hope, but at the same time i have to ask ( not just you but in general )
is that all there is too it, we should do somethings for others just so it comes back around to us? is that a selfish thought on my part?

Great Question...

The offer has to be sincere with no return expected.

It feels great to buy a stranger his morning cup of coffee.

I am not very good at receiving...I look for the catch.

I have the type of questioning mind that drove all of us here.

It's just a small thing...but it is a start.

Originally posted by owtFsink
Are there any people out there who do things for others without some type of personal gain...Are there any GOOD people left out there?

You put personal gain at odds with the idea of being good. It is not in the human makeup to do anything without personal gain. Mother Theresa was thee most selfish person on the planet in my lifetime; and thank god for that!
She saw so many of the sick and poor and dying, and it bothered HER! It wasn't that she wanted to make life better for them, it was that her mind couldn't handle knowing that such conditions existed, so she worked very hard to ease her own mind.

What is personal gain if not to make one feel good inside? For some, money makes them feel good. For others, it's helping a recovering alcoholic to remain sober.

Would you devote much time on things that you don't care about? How about painting Bill Gates house for nothing when he could easily pay for every house in the country to be painted? Of course you wouldn't because you'd feel like a total fool. It wouldn't feel good.

Don't knock personal gain, it's what goodness is made of.

reply to post by benrl


i was thinking the opposite, i travel too much, just this year alone and already from orlando to phoenix to orlando to wildwood NJ to massachusettes and back to orlando...

Originally posted by jiggerj

Don't knock personal gain, it's what goodness is made of.

i am going to have to whole heartedly disagree with that statement. While i can see truth in the rest of your reply (except the part about money), i feel this line is completely false and part of the problem that i am dealing with.

Did you ever get to meet Mother Theresa? im curious how you came to the conclusion you presented, im not saying your wrong, maybe she said something to that effect or wrote it down and i am not aware of it, i just hope that it is not an assumption you have made to make and selfish acts, as opposed to selfless acts, seem acceptable.