Why Do Good People Do Bad Things?

The debate is lost only on those who are convicted for crimes against people and society. They are convicted offenders of being "Bad" people. The people on the outside of the bars, are mostly considered "Good" people, right? Or are they? Maybe the only difference between them and the "Bad" people is that they haven't been caught yet?

Well, let's leave the bad people out of this for now...

Let's just assume that most of us in society are good people. We work, have families, love our kids, and pay our taxes to live in Canada. The overwhelming majority of Canadians are middle class, and we share economic commonality with millions of others in society. Canadians are considered to be nice people, and we are accepted globally because of this reputation. So... if we are all good people, why do we ALL do bad things?!

Why do you work really hard on your character, reputation and integrity for your entire life, only to do a bonehead thing that removes all your credibility? Why do we do bad things? What kind of things you ask? Hmmmm, let's look at a few:

Why do we:

Lie
Cheat on our spouses and significant others more than once
Hurt people physically and mentally
Extort Power
Screw people over

These are just a few that you could start a LONG line of doing horrible things, right?

So why, if we are good people, do we do these things?

I would like to think that we are all good people, that are trying to get into heaven, or any afterlife, and we NEED to be good. Accountability is a bitch, and it keeps most of us in line, but there are those who think that they are above the law, and that they can manipulate the system and others in it.

I think greed and selfishness are the underlying reasons, and I think we are all born with a sense of entitlement and look out for our own interests first.

Sad, but true.

I can safely say that I have been a bad person in my life, but I would consider myself a good person overall. I can admit that I have committed some horrible things in my life, and I shake my head in shame at why I did them, but it doesn't change the fact that I was weak.

And that's what I think it comes down to.

Weakness.

If you are strong and prepared well enough, you will make the noble and correct decision when that opportunity comes along that you make other choices. You make the WISE decision, and not the easier one.
This is HARD, not because we don't know the difference between right and wrong, (because we all know the difference between right and wrong) but because it's just too damn easy to make the wrong decision.

Until you have to pay for it. And then you get the buyer's remorse, times 10.

Then comes guilt, that horrible gut-wrenching feeling of being caught in a bad dream for life. -Something that you can never get back...

It's horrible stuff, and we've all been through it.

But yet, even after all of this, we still continue to do bad things...