From the Mind of Merc - Good and Bad Deeds

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about the idea that a good deed cancels out a bad deed. Tbh, I think this is to blame for a lot more bad deeds than good deeds.

If this is true, than people who are regularly ‘bad’ can supposedly excuse or justify themselves by committing ‘good deeds’. The person in question is not changed – they just believe they are not bad because they did one ‘good’ thing. Consequently a bad person can convince themselves they are not so because the one ‘good’ thing they did means the ‘bad’ thing, in effect, didn’t happen. For me, this means the whole concept is undeniably flawed. And in more ways than one.

Firstly, it seemingly allows bad deeds to happen so long as good deeds continue to happen as well. How can this be ok?

It makes me wonder if this is how the Tory government sleeps at night and how they can convince themselves they are still good people despite the considerable damage they have done to the country - the most blatant (non-COVID related) example being that, since the Tories came to power, life expectancy in the UK has gone DOWN. Yes, you read that right – DOWN. But all these bad deeds are supposedly ok because of any ‘good deeds’ they’ve done.

This is not how this should work. This is little better than spin – it is not right to allow bad deeds to go unnoticed or to be forgotten or hidden just because of the occasional act that is not ‘bad’. And it certainly is not acceptable behaviour for a country’s leadership or government.

There is also the matter of whether the ‘good deeds’ could actually be viewed as that or if it just seems that way from their perspective because they can see the benefit but that’s a discussion for another day.

Secondly, a good deed does NOT cancel out a bad deed. If someone commits a good deed, that does not mean the bad deed did not happen – it just means they are not a completely bad person.

If someone seriously wishes to atone for their actions then it is not and cannot be a quick fix solution. Years of misdeeds cannot be wiped out by one good one. But one good one is an important and worthwhile start on the path to atonement as, surely, the whole point of the concept itself was that one good deed is the start of turning over a new leaf rather than equating to the eradication of all previous bad deeds. It was a way of recognising what happened in the past was wrong and should not happen again.

Perhaps now, when the country is returning to a new ‘normal’, is the best time to realise this and to start to change our viewpoint – no more excuses, no more delusion, no more denial. Acceptance, acknowledgement, accountability.

After all, when someone’s been wronged, the main thing they want is an apology from the person who’s wronged them. No-one should be exempt from that – not even governments.

The idea might be to avoid showing a sign of weakness but it’s actually not apologising that’s the sign of weakness as it shows a refusal to accept the situation, to acknowledge the wrongdoing and take accountability for what shouldn’t have happened. That can be much more damaging than any apology could ever be.

So, if you’ve committed bad deeds and you’re sorry for them the message shouldn’t be ‘doing good deeds cancels them out’, it should be that doing good deeds starts to help undo the hurt the bad deeds caused. It doesn’t mean the bad deeds didn’t happen – they did and this must be understood - but it does mean you’re not allowing them to continue.