Do We Act Out of Love or Duty? - R F Lambert

As children we are taught to "do the right thing", to "say the right thing". We are taught to "be a good boy" and "be a good girl". Our ideas of right and wrong and good and bad are shaped by what we hear and see and read. They are shaped by what we are taught and what we learn. And we grow up into men and women who do right and wrong. We grow up to be fathers and mothers and husbands and wives who are good and bad. We blindly continue to behave and think and feel, as we have been taught.

We are not particularly concerned with our attitude to what we do. We are not bothered by our motive for doing what we do. We just do it. We refuse to be troubled by our conscience on any of these things—whether it is giving alms to the poor beggar, or going to the Temple or Church or Mosque, or saying our prayers, or returning a kindness or offering forgiveness. But is doing good, good enough? Is doing the right thing, right enough? Do we not hide our malice behind our "good" deeds? Are we not just wolves in sheep’s clothing?

© "Deccan Chronicle" (dated March 18, 2004). Reprinted with permission.

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