I don’t like to say “good person” and “bad person” because I feel like it implies that there is some objective scale of goodness that people can be compared to, and I think that is simply not the case. So I would rather think of this question as “Do you have a positive opinion of yourself?”

No, no I don’t. My opinion of myself is extremely negative.

When I was in my early 20s I would have said yes without a doubt.

Now, a TBI turned me into a manipulative being lusting for satisfaction never to be found without dropping personality continuity from when I genuinely was better. I go to weekly therapy, am heavily medicated, and try not to step on anyone’s toes anymore. I have fallen so far there’s not many toes around to step on anymore.

I’ll help the elderly neighbors out with their potlucks, moving furniture, and bringing in groceries. I’ll stand up and defend LGBT rights and groups otherwise disparaged. I’ll befriend those who might be misunderstood like myself and give them company when others might shun them.

All of this serves me though, and being a “good person” was not something that took this much active effort to think about before developing these mental/personality disorders from the head injury.

My moral compass operates on the principle: “If everyone else did what I do, would it make the world a better or worse place?” If the answer is worse, I generally don’t do it - with a few exceptions. I think this way of thinking also gives some perspective on the true impact of even small things. Throwing a candy wrapper on the ground might not seem like a big deal but if everyone does it we’ll drown in trash. Or conversely, if everyone picked a single piece of trash from the ground and put it in the garbage even once a week, the world would be litter-free in no time. Me doing the little thing is doing what can realistically be expected from one person.

Also my job entails locally reversing entropy so you could say I’m taking concrete steps to make the world a bit better every day. And my customers are thankful for it.

I would say that I’m a good enough person.

I do the things that good people do because it feels like the right thing to do, up until the point where I feel like I’m risking overextending myself and then I stop doing that.

I feel bad when I do not do a good thing.

At the same time I know I have done bad things. I have accepted my fault in those situations and apologized to the people that I have hurt in the past and I am still trying to become a better person. So I am good enough to pass for a good person, but I am not an objectively purely good person.

But then again, no one is.

I don’t really think about it much. I’d say no, but I’m not a bad person either. I am willing to sacrifice my own interests for people I care about, but not for strangers. I’m kind to people, but I am not nice. I will encourage people to reconsider harmful behaviors, but enable them if they decide not to change. I have ghosted dozens of people for sometimes not very good reasons. I aspire to leave the world better than I’ve found it, but have spent my career making it worse.

No but thats ok

A long time ago, I was trying to figure out why I had so much trouble making friends. I talked to the few connections I had and did some online searches. Paraphrasing, I found an analysis similar to the following:

Friendship is like two people holding containers of water. In this metaphor, one person is holding a drinking glass, one is holding a bucket. If the person with the drinking glass offers ever bit of water they have, the person with the bucket feels it’s inadequate. If the person with the bucket offers all of their water, the other person feels overwhelmed.

When I read that, I was quite a bit younger and found it fairly profound. I shared it publicly in several places. Every person who saw it - including those I considered to be the metaphorical drinking glass people - declared themselves the bucket person. I did the same of myself so, whether I was right or wrong, I can’t blame any of those people.

In conclusion, I try to be a good person and I think I largely succeed, but experience has taught me that I shouldn’t trust people’s judgment of themselves. I’d like to think I’m an exception, but I’m no more exempt from this than anyone else I’ve observed, just - predictably - less able to see it in myself.

Like the sum total of me, including the past? I’m a good person now, but I used to be a pretty shitty person by most metrics. Like, deplorable.

I’m a person capable of being good or bad. I try very hard to be good, I’ve failed once or twice.

I believe that I am, but it’s more important whether people around me think I’m a good person or not.

Yes. I used to say “no” but that was some fucked up internalized religious self-hate shit. I am good. Not perfect, but definitely good within my moral framework and the framework of any people I care about. I have one particular area I’m wrestling with to be “better” and I find it’s far more useful to focus on improving that than on self-flagellating over how “bad” I am.

No

Negative, I am a meat popsicle.

Not even by my own standards, which is not much. Do I try? Sometimes.

I try to be good whenever I can remember or if the opportunity is presented to me without much cost. Being good has a cost in terms of effort and discipline, and yes, I fail at that. For example: I may look the other way whenever someone’s suffering, but when I can, I try to do what I can.

And this is why I hate it when people say I am a good person. I know I am not, that I can do so much more. I don’t even think I’m worth the resources I consume.