Watch PragerU’s Master’s Program Episode 10 on DailyWire+: ‘Be a Good Person’.
“How do we make good people?”
Dennis Prager, founder of PragerU, believes that this is the most important question a society can ask itself and that our society spends far too little time pondering it.
While many people dedicate themselves to academic or athletic achievements, or proving their worth at work, very few people invest much time in actively contemplating or improving their character. Most people simply assume that they are inherently good.
“It’s a very interesting riddle, isn’t it?” Prager notes. “Most everyone thinks they’re a good person, and yet, there’s a fair amount of evil out there.”
Prager argues that many people are able to overlook their moral shortcomings because, “We don’t assess our goodness by our behavior. We assess our goodness by our intentions,” and, as the old saying goes, good intentions often pave the road to hell.
Virtue is hard-won and often scarce precisely because people don’t prioritize it, according to Prager. While intent is insufficient, the first step to being a good person is aiming to be a good person, because, as Prager puts it, “You become what you want to be.”
Key Qualities of a Good Person
- Honesty: Barring exceptional circumstances, lying is generally a very bad thing. Once you start lying, it rarely stops at a singular lie. Being honest with others and with yourself is a virtue.
- Courage: Recognizing right from wrong is useless if you aren’t willing to do what’s right. Doing the right thing can be difficult or painful, but it is foundational to being a good person.
- Kindness: Gratitude is a keystone of happiness and goodness. Ingratitude is a guarantor of meanness and bitterness. Treating all people with basic humanity, even perfect strangers, is a sign of goodness.
- Responsibility: Good people take responsibility for their actions, support their families and communities, and are morally centered around proper values.
- Morality: Cultivating goodness requires a lifelong commitment and vigilant efforts. Little behaviors add up to make a significant impact.
WATCH: Episode 10: How To Be A Good Person
“The biggest reward, probably, is that you bring good people into your life,” Prager says, which he describes as “the single greatest source of happiness.”
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