I was contemplating upon how we tend to rate things (or even people for that matter) as good or bad. And a realistic fact hit me: Good and bad are relative and opinionated. Meaning, something good for me needn’t be so for you. Just like: ‘One man’s music is another man’s noise‘ or ‘One man’s treasure is another’s garbage‘.
This tends to happen a lot when it comes to believing and trusting people. Some people whom we think are good might just be on the top of some one else’s bad books. Such situations are pretty hard to handle, especially if you are (some one like me and) a friend of both. I’ve had a lot of such situations in life. I sometimes try to change the opinion about that person; but I have come to realize that most of the times it is of no use. Either people refuse to change themselves or even their opinions.
I believe in having an open mind when dealing with people. Accept their opinions but never let them change your beliefs (until you are sure about it).
Coming back to the discussion of good and bad, their relativity is established, like I mentioned above. But I sometimes ask myself: Do we recognize and respect the good only because there is something bad in this world? Is the bad really necessary to emphasize the existence of the good in this world? If so, how much of bad is good?
For example, will the position of the police be recognized as good, if there weren’t a thief?
And sometimes, actions are also deemed good when performed by some people and bad when done so by others. A soldier killing to safe guard his country is good while an extremist doing it is bad.
I think good and bad are contents of a wobbly balance. The world lives in harmony as long as their weights cancel each other out.
Manoj 
7 responses to “How much of ‘bad’ is ‘good’?”
Dude, you’re getting nearer to enlightenment. 😀
Hahaha.. That’s enlightening to know. 😀
Thanks for stopping by Bong. 🙂
Hey manoy how do you do. I know you like to provoke and feel sympathy for that. Leave you with this: if somebody is about to shoot someone you care about, would you tell to go ahead because the killer emphasizes the good?? Cheers
Hey Ralf, good to know you are still reading my writings (though they are not degrading photoshop in any way) 😉
I usually don’t care about bad people. So it depends if the person getting shot at is good or not. (Actually, I don’t mind a bad guy killing another bad guy either!) And moreover, if the person getting shot at is a friend of mine, I’d save him no matter what wrong he has committed, as long as it is not against my country. 🙂
But the bottom line is whether the people in question are good or bad on who’s scale? So, its best not to judge people: Time will show their true colors. I don’t waste time judging anyone. 😀
Very interesting topic u have there… you know… i am a believer of Yin and Yang. There is an equal amount of good and bad in every person… The situations decide what qualities are exhibited.
@VENOM:
Agreed. To put it in another way:
There is potential in every person to act in both good and bad ways. The decision that a person takes (and the action that results from it) shows him/her in either good or a bad light.
everything boils down to ‘perspective’. as long as u r used to look from one side, the other is always bad. and if u have a chance to look from other side, it is bad even then, coz of the earlier perspective turning into a belief. so, good or bad starts as a perspective, develops into belief and causes furthur implications which are again either good or bad. and the cycle repeats. however, this applies to only those people who care to think about good or bad.