If People are So Good, Why Does My Wife Check the Doors?

Every night before we retire, my wife checks all the four doors of our home for one reason: Is each door locked, or have I or one of the kids left it open...again?

A recent poll result reported by Salem News Network shows that Americans were asked whether people are basically good or basically bad? A whopping 75% of respondents said people are basically good, while a small minority of respondents, 25%, said people are basically bad.

Will somebody please contact my wife and let her know that our neighbors are basically good, and there is really no need to lock our doors at night, or when we are out of the house? And will someone else please inform our neighbors that we are a pretty good family just like everyone of their families, and that there is really no need for them to lock their doors? Can I get one good person to make the call?

Now, for those completely convinced that my wife suffers from paranoia or xenophobia, try answering some questions. "If people are basically good, why do we..." Get used to seeing that line, because you'll be reading it a lot in the following bullet points.

The Good-People, Bad-People Reality Check:

If people are basically good, why do we build houses and homes with locks on them, and some with walls around them?

If people are basically good, why do we need and build jails, prisons and detention centers?

If people are basically good, why do we have the military to protect our land from attacks by people of other lands?

If people are basically good, why do we have law enforcement officers (the police) to patrol our streets?

If people are basically good, why do we see people, businesses and government hire security guards?

If people are basically good, why do we have security devices and security systems for our homes, banks, stores, and so forth? Example: ADT

If people are basically good, why do we need to teach our kids to do right, and why do kids do wrong naturally, without parents giving a lesson on how to talk back, lie, steal, cover up, etc?

If people are basically good, why do we set up spouse abuse centers, where women, afflicted by violence, can seek shelter? (Perhaps it's women that are basically good and men are basically bad?)

If people are basically good, why do we have 860 million plus hungry people in our world, where there is more than enough food to feed every hungry mouth?

If people are basically good, why do churches and other charities have to constantly ask for donations, even from their own members? And why does the Red Cross put out desperate pleas for blood donations? Why do so many people have to get paid before they can donate blood?

If people are basically good, why do we have so many laws? Why do our lawmakers keep writing new laws to keep people, including themselves, in check?

If people are basically good, why do we need stop signs, traffic lights, and street markings to keep drivers in their lanes? And why do we have locks on our vehicles, and why do we lock our cars when we are not driving them (if we are privileged to own cars)?

If people are basically good, why do we have so many divorces, dysfunctional families, not to mention neglected and abused children?

If people are basically good, why do we have religions to remind us to be good and do good, and why do we have priests, pastors, and ministers make their living from teaching people, often more than once a week, to do right?

If people are basically good, why do we need incentives for people to get up and go to work? And why do companies use supervisors to make sure other workers do their jobs and do them right? Why do companies use sign-in sheets or clock-in systems to track each employee's attendance record?

If people are basically good, why do we not pick up all strangers along the way to give them rides, and why do we teach our children not to talk to or walk into the arms of strangers?

If people are basically good, why do banks and businesses hire Brinks Security to move their cash from one location to the other?

If people are basically good, why has the human race seen and perpetrated so many civil wars, international wars, and genocides?

If people are basically good, how do we explain acts of terrorism and war atrocities that entire societies sometimes approve of?

If people are basically good, why do we have ethics committees, checks and balance in the branches of government, and so many agencies and departments of government charged with looking over the shoulders of other people?

Let's conclude this diatribe by quoting Rich Deem, who argues, If you examine the atrocities perpetrated by people within the last century, you find a huge number of murders. Adolph Hitler killed 6 million Jews prior to and during the second World War. Joseph Stalin killed 20 million Soviet citizens between 1929 and 1939 because they were not politically correct. Mao Tse-tung killed 34 to 62 million Chinese during the Chinese civil war of the 1930s and 1940s. Pol Pot, the leader of the Marxist regime in Cambodia, Kampuchea, in the 1970's killed over 1.7 million of his own people. These do not include all the people killed in "legitimate" wars.

Mr. Deem contends, Many would object to this analysis, since they could claim that these atrocities were perpetrated by only a few individuals. However, these individuals could not have done anything if they were not backed by others, who agreed with their "values." The vast majority of Germans willingly followed Adolph Hitler and gave their consent to his policy to get rid of the "Jewish problem."

Might it be true that the primary reason most don't commit crimes or do evil to harm others is for fear of being caught or punished? Remove that fear or threat of punishment, and we could well be left with a true jungle of people swarming the planet. But then again, 75% of Americans disagree...

So, what do you think?