By smcintos

So, what makes a good man? It is also fair to ask, what makes a good woman?

I was in line at a fast food place in a small town, a few days ago. In the line ahead of me were two older men, who were probably retired. Two friends were going for coffee.

In front of them was a young woman, a mother, with her little girl. One of the men spoke in a loud voice, to the cashier, and said “Put their food order on our bill, and I will pay for it.” The young mother said no, and she paid for her own order.

Later, I had to pick up my food, and the older man was still waiting for his food. I was standing near him, so I told him that he did a good thing, when he offered to pay for his neighbors food. 

He seemed surprised, and even offended. I had to explain again, until he understood that I was giving him a compliment, and he seemed surprised. I guess that we are too good at reacting and criticizing, and people are surprised by compliments.

I will say it again; I think he was a good man, and he tried to do a good thing, to some strangers. Other people saw and heard him, and he deserves a compliment.

There is more to this story. A short time later, I decided to visit the washroom, and I had to put my food order somewhere, for a short time. I knew exactly what to do. I went to the table where the two older men were sitting and I asked if I could leave my food on their table for a minute or two. Of course they said yes, cheerfully, and that helped me.

They were good men.

Here is a question: Who cares? That was a brief incident, really two incidents, in a common place. What difference does the story make, in the world?

There are two questions to answer: What did they do? And … Who are they?

They didn’t do much. The young mother turned down their offer, and I left something on the edge of their table for a short time. Not much in the world has changed from those events.  If I didn’t tell you the story, you would never know what happened.

The real question is; Who are those men?

Did you know there is a growing social movement, especially among young men, mostly identified as Generation Z, to be a better person.

Who knew?

Below is video link, to a report from Australia, where many young men are becoming religious, and by extension they are trying to be good men. Apparently, young women in their generation do not show the same tendency. I can’t explain that:

https://youtu.be/x49spAqupAg

There are other reports about this restlessness in young adults. In our mass media world, it is easy to belong to something, with many other people, and it is not so easy to be a good person, whatever group we identify with. 

This is not a new idea, but many people can see the trend. Someone has said that technology has given us this amazing thing we call the Internet, and we could use that tool to change the world. Instead of creating progress and changing the world, we send each other pictures of cats and puppies. We know that’s true.

There are thousands of videos, on the Internet about people who are kind to small animals. I think there is more than a concern for animal rights in these videos. We like to see ourselves being kind to helpless little things. 

It’s like we have a sense of purpose.

This is something we all want to see. We want to change ourselves, as much as we want to change the world. People who know how to be good can make the big changes and reforms that we need. If we were all as kind as those two retired men, in a fast food lineup, we could make this a much better world. Maybe those two men will have a bigger assignment, someday.

We have some information about this from an ancient prophet named Micah. He wrote a small book that is  included in the Bible, and apparently, there is a difference between practicing a group religion, and being a good person: 

[Religion] Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 

[Personal Goodness] He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 4: 7 and 8)

There is a flip side to this. We are told about the dark side of this trend, by the person of Jesus: 

What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. (Mark 7: 20 to 23)

In a world of ideologies and massive movements, there is a strong social trend to find the truth, for ourselves. Imagine the difference to the neighbors, and to the next generation, from the people who find this truth. 

I hope we all learn this: