The world is sick. Rape, genocide, corruption, stealing, revenge, murder... the list is endless. But what I think we often forget, is that we are a part of the world, and indeed we are all also very sick. There are people who understand their depravity, their utter lostness and sickness. Many are depressed, numb, self-destructive. Than there are those who have no idea how corrupt they are. They walk around clueless to their evil. Many are judgemental, shallow, feel entitled, spoiled, totally ungrateful.

Now I also recognize that in all of us, we have the capacity to do good. But, you would not call a murderer a good man just because he helped a few old ladies cross the street. Some might call this analogy a bit extreme, but I actually think it is uncomfortably close to the truth.

If your perception of how good you are, is based on your point of view, and also how you compare yourself to others...think about how subjective that is. Truly, without an absolute standard of good (or of bad for that matter) we are all lost in a vastless ocean of relativism. And yet, from Hitler to Mother Teresa (a old cliche comparison I know) most of us think that compared to most of us we really aren't that bad. If there is one things we humans are adept at doing, it's justifying our atrocious behaviors and actions. We relativize ourselves till we reach a happy and mostly positive medium about ourselves. "Well so and so cheats on his taxes in this way, so me cheating in this way is not so bad." "Well pratically everyone gossips, so my comment about so and so is not that bad." "Well he cheated on me, so to hell with him if I sleep with so and so." "Well most people barely give anything to charity, I am quite generous giving $20 bucks to that such and such cause."

I can't remember who said this, but it was something like "anytime we do anything worthy of being called good, we borrow from the Divine." In other words, the only way to be more than animals is if God made us to be more than animals. And I think he did. He made us to be his children. The great miracle then is that you are more capable of more good and beauty than you or I can possibly understand in our current pitiful state. We need God to see our real selves.

"If the universe is not governed by an absolute goodness, then all our efforts in the long run are hopeless. But if it is, then we are making ourselves enemies to that goodness every day...and so our case is hopeless again." -CS Lewis