[in-pursuit]

Why is it that only "doing nice things" or "volunteering your time" makes you a good person? Does a traffic engineer not better the lives of others? What about a farmer? Where does the food served in a soup kitchen come from if not from the sweat of the farmer's brow? The shelter over everyone's head only exists because truckers transported the materials. Simply existing in a way that isn't purely self-serving is often enough to be hugely helpful to others.

[anon7000]

> Simply existing in a way that isn't purely self-serving is often enough to be hugely helpful to others.

You’re basically saying the same thing. “Doing nice things” just gets you in the mindset of helping others, which many people don’t actively do.

And obviously it’s possible to be a bad person who still works in a job that does some good in the world.

[Cthulhu_]

Note that this is a bit of a straw man argument because the person you replied to didn't say "only" doing nice things makes you a good person. These are also ways to be a good person. The other is being a farmer, but only if you treat your staff and land and/or animals with respect and longevity in mind instead of capitalist exploitative min/maxing.

"Do no evil" is a good adage to live by, instead of "be a good person". In a lot of cases, doing nothing is the way to be a good person.