The Good You’ve Not Done

Daily Meditation 738–3/6/2024

Voltaire had a saying from way back that “Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.”

While I do wholeheartedly agree with Voltaire, I will slightly modify it:

Every man is guilty of all the good he knowingly did not do.

When you saw the old woman reaching for the top shelf at Aldi and decided to not ask if you could help.
When you didn’t offer your seat to the elderly man or the pregnant woman.
When you decided to stay in, playing video games, when your friend called you for a hangout sesh right after their divorce.
When you were in no rush and saw a bewildered person on the side of the road struggling to change a tire — when you know how to.
When you were mowing, saw your neighbor’s lawn was out of hand (and that she was recently widowed), but decide to finish your lawn and go inside.

The world gives us ample opportunities — essentially daily — to do good works for others. But, so many times for whatever reasons, we opt to not to take those opportunities.

Sometimes we insist we don’t have time.
Sometimes we insist they don’t really need the help.
Sometimes we insist that, perhaps, the behavior…