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How would you define a good person? How would you describe your actions? What makes you a bad person? Apathy does not equal malice. If you saw someone bleeding out in the street would you call emergency services and/or attempt to render aid?
A good person to me, well, the simplest definition I can come up with is someone who does good according to their own ethics and moral law. And yes, provided the bystander effect doesn't claim me, I'd call emergency services if I see someone bleeding out on the street, or at least ask if someone has already called them.
Everyone does bad things from time to time but that doesn't necessarily make you a bad person. Are you claiming to only or mostly do bad deeds? I'm trying to understand. A guilty conscience can trap you.
It's more of a failure to live up to ideas of what is good, IMO. Like, doing what I know is bad, continuing to do it despite knowing it's bad.
For a more concrete example, I know that I have poor sleeping habits, and yet I still persist in letting my sleep schedule wander around. Or when I have poor dietary habits despite knowing that it's bad for me. I also note that I do give advice that I don't take for myself.
I'm sorry, I thought we were talking about ethics? I also eat like shit and have a poor sleep schedule but that doesn't make me a bad person. Am I misunderstanding?
Well, that's the difference, I suppose. As far as I am concerned, doing bad things that I know are bad is a moral and ethical failure. It might not be the same for everyone, and I am only speaking of how I see myself, not how others see me.
My feelings with respect to people calling me good despite my own self-image is just that, feeling. I don't really tell other people that they're wrong when they call me a 'good person,' but I do tell them that no, I have my shortcomings too.
I don't know you but if people are telling you that you're a good person than you very well may be a good person. No one is without sin and we've all done things we regret. Most people who are bad people (if you wanna call it that) really don't see themselves as such. They convince themselves that they're in the right. Self awareness counts for something.
TBH, I don't readily call others bad people just because they don't believe in what I believe in. It's between them and their conscience.
But yeah, I do take others' opinion into account, but only in so far as what's common in my perception of their words and my own perception of reality. If they think I'm a good person for picking up after my trash, then yeah, it's all fine by me--but even then, I qualify it. Under that specific lens, then yes, I am a good person.