The Measure of the Phrase "Good"

by Cooking Spray

Disclaimer: Highlight address bar. Read carefully. Consult dictionary if needed.

This was originally written for the LiveJournal community 52 Flavours, and is based off of the theme "five shades of white". I've discontinued the challenge, but I thought this might be appreciated here.

They said he was good.

Everyone aboard that ship said it, everywhere we went. He said it. She said it.

But they were wrong. She was wrong. It was the only time she had managed to fail me.

Or did she?

What exactly is the measure of the phrase "good"? I've seen enough to know that very few people are simply "good" or "bad". Most of them, regardless of appearances, fall somewhere in the middle, in the shades of gray that are harder to define. But it's easier to go with one or the other, to save the trouble.

So, is there even such a thing as "good" or "bad"? Do such stereotypes truly exist?

I think she was "good", if there is a "good". And if there are different shades of "good", just as there are gray, I think she was the blindest, purest white there was.

But even so, what does being "good" entail? Is it a quality you're born with, a character so inherently kind and seemingly flawless that everyone has no choice but to realize and submit to? A genuine caring, an empathy? Does one person even have the capacity to be so selfless?

Or is it. . . Someone who understands the teeniest, tiniest part of what it means to be this saint-like character, and tries to live their life by it, knowing they'll never quite live up? Someone who sometimes makes "bad" choices but is always willing to repent and see the error of their ways? Someone. . . human, who makes mistakes but learns from them?

I think that may be closer to the truth. If so, maybe they were right about you. You've been misguided, but you can be led back to the right path. You can realize your wrongdoing and hope to live your life in a better way. Maybe you can still be as "good" as they used to say.

Perhaps not as "good" as she was. I don't think anyone in my life can replace the perfect shade of white she represents. But you could still be another shade; different, but just as important.

Out of the five shades of white that I've known, I think you could still be one of the brightest. I have hope.

Thoughts?