Goodness on steroids?

Let me own two faves. The movie, Love Actually and Hugh Grant in just about anything, including, of course, Love Actually.

“Good’s going to win” is a line spoken by the Hugh Grant character in the coda to Love Actually (made 15 years later.) I hear that line and immediately feel uplifted and warm. it’s hard to discern, however, whether it’s my reaction to Hugh Grant, or the promise of “Good is going to win.” I want it to be the latter.

Sure, I/we want “good to win.” But there’s a slight hitch in that my version of good, and yours, can often be different. Very, very different. Are there universal values we can agree constitute goodness? After doing a quickie AI literature survey of zillions and zillions of universal values, I give up! Ain’t no such beast.

How the hell does “good is going to win” shake out when there’s no agreement on the definition of “good?” Huh? (I’ve just sent a prayer to the UK, hunting for Hugh Grant, in the off chance he can provide us with an answer.)

Short of a Hugh Grant magic wand whisking all of us into a solvent of goodness, stick with me. I just thought of something.

Remember that ol’ pandemic thing? Of course, you do. I learned more about viruses than I ever thought possible. Aside from the shock value of even mentioning that word, virus (sorry, folks), did we not all learn that each of us could be a virus disseminator?

Well, guess what? Social scientists joined this pandemic party of research. Many folks think rudeness, or hurtful words, are a self-contained experience, limited to just one person, or interaction. Nope. Harsh words are truly a virus that spreads, person to person, making the lives of everyone exposed to to those words, fraught. Do any of us really need more “fraught?”

Finally, finally, we return to Hugh Grant’s “goodness is going to win.” I can’t make you (or you, or you) behave in such a way that my version of “goodness is going to win,” carries the day. (Such a bummer.) However, I can keep my side of the street clean.

Rude words are self-contained in my head. Or baldly put, I ain’t going to be a viral carrier (unless I know someone is on the same page I am.) Hey, I bet goodness spreads like a virus. Bingo! Social scientists absolutely agree. That would be my kind of carrier…

A steroid-infused post, originally from March 17, 2024.