Target shooting and sightseeing.

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I should have gone to church today, but I really want to scope out the places during the weekday when it is easier to get in and out. I have finally found the church, the second church that is, if I had not mentioned it. So, today, instead, my neighbor and myself went around the valley. He has lived here most of his life and all of his childhood and young adult years, so he knows a thing or two. He cannot drive currently, and has not been able to for some time. We end up making a pretty good team, as such. He knows where to go, I can and will drive. It might end up a daily thing. The only thing bad for him, I do not allow smoking in my vehicle. But we take breaks often enough for him I think.

Today we went south. In trying to find a place to shoot near a dam and it's reservoir, if unsuccessfully due to the weekend crowds, he showed me some good places to fish. We also happened to drive by the Osmond's farmstead, hunting lodge, or second (third, fourth?) house out in the boonies a bit. I saw a lot of good country. As well, I know more surely where I would like to live. As well, and just by happenstance, the old road we ended up upon heading south is a shortcut to Ogden. If it has a lower allowed speed, it is half the length and a lot more scenic. I will probably take that rout as it will cut my gas usage in half, perhaps quarter it with the lower speeds. As I told him, I have more time then money and I prefer the quieter roads. It might be tricky in the winter, I will just have to find out.

It amazes me that I can drive from city to real country in such a short distance. I think the reason so much of the Southern area has stayed countrified is due to the lack of real space to expand. Builders want vast tracts they can exploit, not dinky areas they have to hedge around mountain, water, and other large problems. Yes, south of Logan is where I want to be. In 15 minutes I can drive from there to college or town. The roads are good and look to be kept well winter and summer. I would much rather have a farmer friend or 5 a half mile away than a city slicker of unknown nature 20 to 50 feet away any day. Fresh hay, horse and cattle smells, alfalfa, a meandering stream, that feels like home.

Since it is Sunday, and though I have written a bit, I thought I would write about another Christian topic. Being a good man.

I was talking with a young man, a pseudo atheist, about being good. I call him a pseudo atheist because, though raised in a Christian home, he really did not believe, or even seem to understand Christianity, or what the big fuss is about. I was not really interested in evangelizing and he was not interested in being converted, but we did hit upon a topic that was of interest to both of us. That topic regarding being good and what being a good man really meant.

He initialized it by saying that since he tried to do the right things and believed in good things, that he was indeed a good man. I sort of chuckled at this and though he did initially become a bit angry and defensive, I calmed him down enough to engage him. I suggested that I was not really laughing at him, just the simplistic notions that are being developed in the young by the school systems today.

To be a good man, for one, is very simplistic. In the secular world, it means, well, nothing other than feeling good about yourself. There are no rules to it. There is no means of measuring it, unless you say that committing a crime is a bad thing. But that carries little weight, as colleges love to hire high profile "ex"-terrorists, their mouthpieces, and such. So, really, being good in secular terms is completely fiction. You cannot be good and secular. You can only feel good and be secular, if in a very shallow way.

Being good, in my understanding, is actually impossible on one's own. The closest we, in my circle, can ever get is to do good deeds and abstain from doing things that are sinful. Doing a good deed requires several things. The first thing is that the deed be intentional and willfully aimed at being a good deed. The next is that the deed must be carried out with that same intention until it is completed (the means, in other words, must also be good). Finally, the deed must truly end up in a beneficent result (the ends must be successful and good). Barring any of those three things, no good deed, no matter how well intentioned, carried out, or the result, is actually a good deed. He looked a little baffled and asked some silly (yes, there are silly questions) questions. So, I went a little further.

I suggested that he imagine that developing then producing a good apple was a good deed. I suggested that the secular world would laud him for just the notion. But I said, that is not the same thing. To do the good apple, one must do a lot of work. First, one must research apples, people's tastes, growing seasons, soils, and locations, and then begin forming an idea about which apples to try to combine to make a certain taste, consistency, texture, and such. Then, one must find a place where all of those apple types may be grown, which apple tree type to be the main and which to splice, and then figure out all of the splicing needed. Then, after years, or more like decades, of work, he might produce a good apple.

Further, however, is this. Even if he happens to produce a wondrous apple, will everyone like it? Well, no. Some people simply do not like apples. Some people are allergic to apples. Other people who do like apples will not like that particular apple. So, even this good deed is limited in scope. Much as good deeds may truly be.

My remedy may be simple, but it is this. First, accept that you cannot be good to perfection or even close. Second, decide what to do about it. But understand, just because you feel good about yourself or your deeds, really look at those and see if that is deserved. Good deeds are a lot of work. As for myself, I try to keep my attempts at good deeds small. Little things done well, and lots of them, do more for the world than medium or large deeds, especially should they go astray. I do not have, as yet, the tools to do the right thing on any kind of scale. So a little time spent with someone I know needs it, setting aside my dragons breath, scales, an claws here, asking if others need help and then helping if so there, and other small things. I still fail. I fail to spend the time, to ask, and sometimes simply to do anything.

I do not know if this meant a thing to him, in the end. I think it sounded a bit complicated. But too, I think it bothered him that his teacher's belief that he was a great guy just because he was a guy and they were in school together might be wrong. I planted a little seed. I only hope it grows. I cannot even say that it was a good deed, it was not technically forethought. Though, it could be argued, I think about these things and try to implement that thought when encountering contrary thought. Then again, perhaps my initial laugh was in poor form, therefore nixing the thing. I cannot say for sure, but I can hope, for him and me.

Good night.