What does it really mean to be a good person? Maybe it is simpler than we make it: treat people with respect, be honest, help when you can, and don’t let kindness become weakness.

There is an old saying: treat people how you want to be treated. It doesn’t get much easier than that, and I think it should work both ways.

I wrote about something similar in this post about the possibility that an ordinary moment could be the last time you see someone:

If you treat me well, then I will do the same. If you treat me badly, then you should expect the same in return.

That might go against the whole “be a good person” philosophy, but I don’t think it takes things too far. Being a good person doesn’t mean becoming a submissive person who allows themselves to be taken advantage of.

There is a difference between being kind and being a pushover.

I think the same basic idea applies when we look at history and how people treat one another. I wrote about that in my review of The Warmth of Other Suns, which deals with the experiences of millions of Black Americans who left the South during the Great Migration in search of dignity, safety, opportunity, and a better life.

Things are not that complicated.

You don’t need a magic formula for being a good person. Treat people with respect. Be honest. Help when you can. Don’t deliberately make someone else’s life harder.

And if someone treats you badly, you don’t have to become a bad person just because they did.

Maybe being a good person is simply trying to leave people a little better off than you found them.

That’s probably a good place to start.