Some years ago, I was very enamored of a certain programming language. I won’t delve into why, because I love my readers and have no desire for them to die of boredom. But let’s just say that I had found the Way, and I knew it.
When I moved from one state to another, I started looking for a job where I could use this language. Where I was going was a relative tech backwater, but I did find one small four-man startup. With me, it became five.
Why was I excited to work there? Why were they excited to have me? It wasn’t because they were paying me a ton, or because I was an amazing engineer. Actually I was pretty mediocre.
Rather, it was because we were in agreement as to what constituted the Good, at least in this small corner of life.
“Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?”
Humans, looked at objectively, mostly suck. Most of them are poor. Even more of them are dumb. The vast majority of them die without having done anything important, except maybe to other humans, who (as stated above) are dumb anyway, so who cares what they think. And maybe someone you know is an exception. Whatever. In a hundred years they’ll be dead and no one will remember them.
Here is the great thing about humans, the thing that is awesome, that is beautiful, laudable, and pure: they don’t like the above state of affairs.
Do you prefer light over darkness, truth over falsehood, kindness over cruelty, laughter over sorrow, friendship over strife, life over death, pleasure over pain? Then how can I not be on your side?
This is the thing that Man has over the dust of the earth, even if the dust is more obedient: we want Good—even if only in the abstract, because we are afraid of it, too lazy for it, or wrong about it.
This is the seed without which all else is worthless.
Calculated Bravery 