Sit & Write #147
Greetings, friends!
One of the main questions in my novel-in-progress is "how do I become/remain a good person?" It's a simple question with a complicated answer. At the surface, being "good" is a straightforward proposition: treat yourself and others with respect, share what you have, try not to do harm, and make amends if you do. But apply pressure to any singular facet of that sentence and things get messier. What does respect look like? How much should we share, and with whom? What exactly is harm? How does one truly make amends? And what of the actions of those who preceded us? Can we make amends for their harms? How does the past inform our obligations to each other today?
I don't have solid answers to any of these questions, but I think it's worth sitting with the discomfort they offer and considering what we really mean when we casually talk about community. In conversation with friends this weekend, I joked that "community" can be defined as "the people you're stuck with." Tha…