“I Do Not Want to Be Good”–A Poem

As a philosopher, I spend a lot of time thinking about the good.

What the good is and what it means for our lives is one of the most discussed philosophical topics of the last several thousand years.

In fact, I am teaching an ethics class this semester, and this is one of the main things we are studying in this class.

Sometimes I think we believe the good is boring or mundane or “safe”–thoughts like these are reflected in phrases like “goody-two-shoes” or “goody-goody”.

But I think the good is something much different from this misconception. This line of thinking inspired this poem recently.

“I Do Not Want to Be Good”

I do not want to be good anymore.
I want to be
Agile
Brave
Clement
Dangerous
Electric
Fair
Gallant
Humanizing
Illuminating

Jocund
Kaleidescopic
Lachrymose
Malleable
Nimble
Oracular
Perspicacious
Queenly
Ready

Supple

Tenacious

Unmoved
Vivacous
Weird
eXuberant
Yesful
Zen.

I do not want to be good anymore,
Unless, this is what good is,
Which I think it must be…

And then good is all I want to be.

*****

If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing on social media.

What do you think the good is? Or what does it mean to be good? I think the good, above all, is surprising. Have you ever been surprised by the good?