Believe In The Goodness of Others

A thought occurred to me not long ago. Why do we (usually) assume that when people try to help us or share with us, that they are only doing it for their own good? Why do so many people have such a hard time trusting that other people in our life may genuinely want the best for us, or that a stranger may want to help us?

Now, let's be clear, I am not saying to be naive. Certainly you should always practice a degree of caution when dealing with others, that's just common sense. What if though, we all tried to focus on the goodness that came from things, and believe that others truly want to do good?

Let me give you an example. Just this morning one of my team members was sharing a blog with me that she enjoys reading, from marketing guru Seth Godin. Apparently, she enjoys reading it so much, she took a couple quick minutes to send off an email to him, thanking him for the content he provides, and how much it helps her. Now, there's a good chance that Seth would get this email, figure it was some scam to get him to look at some of her work, and disregard. However, that is not what happened at all. Within mere minutes, an email was back into her inbox thanking her for "making his day", signed from Seth. Could he have wondered what "hidden agenda" there was there? Sure. Instead, he choose to believe in the goodness of others.

Good things are all around us. People do honestly try to help us and lift us up all the time, as we should be doing to others as well. So often we are clouded by waiting for the "catch" or just generally not watching, we miss that goodness.

I am choosing, today, to believe in the goodness of others.