Goodness

Reading responses to my last post about beggars made me think about the presence of goodness in human society. If you entirely took on board impressions of humanity from the media - you would think that our world was full of ugliness, selfishness and sheer unbridled badness. They create a picture of city streets filled with danger, crack dealers, rapists, muggers and vandals. Children are warned not to talk to strangers and to be on guard against this vile wickedness bubbling just under the surface of everyday reality.

And yet, when I stand back from it all, I realise that this picture of my fellow human beings is a long way from the truth. Tallullah, Friday and Alkelda have been kind to beggars and such quiet kindness is arguably the truer face of humanity. All of us can surely recall acts of human kindness - favours rendered, helping hands lent - goodness that was profferred without hope or expectation of personal reward. Being on the receiving end of human goodness makes all of us more liable to do good things for others. What goes around comes around and ... you're gonna reap just what you sow.

Between the ages of sixteen and twenty three I hitchhiked all over the place. Not many young people seem to hitchhike these days which is a shame and indicative of the culture of fear that abounds. I remember one particular lift with a salesman all the way from Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye. We stopped at a roadside cafe and he bought me a slapup fried breakfast. I tried to offer him some money but he'd have none of it. Back then, I had lots of great rides from people who just wanted to help complete strangers like myself. They didn't want anything back in return.

Once, as a teenager, I was standing outside a fish and chip shop in Winchester, Hampshire. It was around eleven at night. My mate Lee and I were wondering where we'd sleep that night miles away from our Yorkshire homeland. A man popped out of the fish and chip shop and asked us if we needed a bed for the night. We went home with him. He was a junior doctor at the local hospital and he said he'd be going to work early in the morning - "Just make yourself some breakfast and push the keys through the letter box when you go," he said. And we never saw him again. We left a note on the kitchen table saying thanks.

I have numerous stories like these - tales of human kindness. And it may be unfashionable to say this but I genuinely think that most human beings are essentially good. The majority of us are not seeking to beat down the next guy in line. We want to help others, partly because helping is in itself a real buzz - it confirms that we are truly alive. It harks back to the days of rural living where communities had to be interdependent to survive. Just because they have made cities for us with apartments and concrete blocks to live in doesn't mean that we have lost the rather primitive urge to help others and to do good things.

In the western world there are so many charities that thrive on goodwill. When disaster strikes, thousands upon thousands of ordinary people dig deep in their pockets to try to counteract flood, famine, earthquake or disease. Also what of those magnificent human beings who choose to work for these charities - often on extremely low incomes in harsh circumstances - doing their bit to spread the message that being a human being should not be mainly about looking after number one, it should chiefly be about stretching out a helping hand to others.

On the question of goodness, what do you think?