39 replies to this topic

[Hilander]

As long as the good deed helped someone I don't think talking about it would take anything away from it.  If you are talking about it in a way that says 'look what I did and you didn't' that's not nice.

[SereneScene]

R4z3rsPar4d0x, on 26 December 2012 - 05:21 PM, said:

Well we can go back and forth on this subject forever, But the fact is a lot of money was given to education and whether he brags about it or not theres still going to be a ton of money going to education

Exactly.

[C235]

Sometimes bragging about a good deed literally diminishes it. like I borrow you some money & then start bragging about it to everyone that I helped him! He would be helpless without me. lol

[Leave Britney alone!]

White Unicorn, on 23 December 2012 - 05:53 AM, said:

The deed would still have value but only to the receiver. The giver did not give since it was a selfish deed for the pride of bragging or some other ego gain by being a giver.

The hand that gives receives, you did not empty your hand in order to receive the real spiritual gift from the giving.

Agreed.

A good deed should help a) reciever, b) giver, and c) others.

Bragging diminishes the benefit to b and also c.

Also even if done anonymously or not c might also be hurt if as in the example offered earlier where someone stops traffic to let someone else in but everyone else behind is inconvenienced.

It is rather simple. Some seem to think there is good and bad but no shades or combination of them existing together.

Edited by I believe you, 27 December 2012 - 09:26 AM.

[Leave Britney alone!]

So there are mixed- blessings.

Now if someone gives but brags so much that others see it as diminishing what was given, well if that is true one should not assume that the reduction of benefit is soley the fault of the giver who is bragging, you and others also have a choice: focus on the bragging or focus on the what was given and how it helped someone else. Whatever you focus on tells us more about yourself than anyone else.

[ouija ouija]

Wow! Thank you all for your posts ...... very interesting, with some aspects I hadn't thought of.

[FlyingAngel]

Good deed is to do good stuffs, then soon forget it like a stranger pass by on the road. Then one day you meet him again and he thanks you, you'd say: "oh, did I really help you? I don't remember it "

[Sean93]

If someone does a good deed to heighten their public prestige then the deed still stands, say they built a hospital in Kenya which saved many lives but their only motive was to get in with the politicians and leaders of the place.

The Hospital was still beneficial but the mind behind it is just a kiss-ass. However, if being a bit of a douche gets hospitals built and good deeds done, what's wrong with that?

Take Oscar Schindler for example: Saved a few hundred Jews but also charmed the SS Officers over by buying them drinks etc. He liked the prestige and notoriety but also saw the atrocities that were being committed by those he rubbed shoulders with.

[Still Waters]

If someone does a good deed for somebody else, the somebody else will benefit from it whether the doer brags about it afterwards or not. Although in some cases the recipient might prefer the 'rest of the world' not to know about it.

The opposite to that is the kind of person who'll go out of his/her way to help someone without thinking twice about it, and without even realising they've done anything special. You'd be hard pushed to find a more genuine good deed than that.

[ouija ouija]

Still Waters, on 30 December 2012 - 10:24 PM, said:

Although in some cases the recipient might prefer the 'rest of the world' not to know about it.