If Yours are Good, Does that make Mine Bad?
a self-centered acrostic
By KJ AartilaPublished 10 months ago • 1 min read
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Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash
If Yours are Good, Does that Make Mine Bad?
Insipid words of a selfish love
Negate the truth within a deadened heart;
The taste left behind - sour on my tongue.
Earning the unconditional - a price I will
Not pay anymore, to anyone.
Torn by illusions, delusions:
Indignation won’t let go; though
Obligations come with questions;
No end justifies the means.
So, am I wrong? Does it make you right?
Thank you for reading!
Questions to ponder - or I invite you to answer in the comments: Does one’s good intentions cancel out another’s? Are consequences of those actions then inconsequential? Should a person be held responsible for their good intentions?
About the Creator
KJ Aartila
A writer of words in northern WI with a small family and a large menagerie.
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Comments (6)
Loved every word!
Not at all. Great read!
No & no.
Well done!!! Left some love!!!❤️❤️💕
I wrote an essay on this concept of good intentions, with a quote at the end that bears directly on your question here. https://vocal.media/humans/compassion-or-condescension This aphorism recently occurred to me, which also bears on your query: We thought that the ends justified the means, but it turns out there is no end, and we are just mean! I hope that made you laugh! Dark humor, perhaps, but as I looked back over the last few centuries, on this experiment in the pursuit of happiness, as Jefferson coined it, I came to realize that it is better if happiness pursues us. The pursuit of happiness turns out to be an ignoble goal. This is not the conclusion of one who sought and failed to find. I drank it to the dregs! So in a roundabout way, I answer your primary question thus: many of those enlightenment era philosophers, like Jefferson, had good intentions when they tried to reformulate society along the lines of the pursuit of happiness. However, their good intentions only mask a more basic truth of political science, which was laid bare by Machiavelli, and which still remains so well hidden in the "mystery" of the authorship of the gospels, which were conspicuously written in Greek... ...but I will leave that discussion for another day. As to whether one person's good intentions disqualify another's intentions from being good... on a case-by-case basis this must remain an open question. The examples I give above, however, at the very least prove that on the scale of the general population, individual intentions, no matter how good, or by what definition, are easily nullified by... manifest destiny? The names have changed, but the song remains insane...
Interesting questions. Opposing intentions could cancel each other unless one intention had more desired results. But good intentions in itself is a form of thoughtfulness. Unless the intentions were deemed a false attempt to fix a situation, I don’t think they can be considered inconsequential. And yes, I believe One should be held responsible if their intention resulted in a mistake or accident. 🤷🏾♂️- Loved the poem by the way.