#oneaday, Day 151: Lawful Good

I am Lawful Good. I play Chaotic Good whenever I play D&D because it’s the most fun way to be Good, but in reality I am Lawful Good. I don’t like breaking laws, rules, anything like that, and I’ll go out of my way to ensure I do things “properly”. I like to help other people, and I like to make sure that they’re happy and safe.

So when a temptation to do something from outside that alignment presents an opportunity, I find it very difficult, and usually impossible, to take it. Even if the action in question is justifiable.

I’ll present a hypothetical example. Let’s say you saw, I don’t know, let’s say a Facebook status message that riled you somehow. Perhaps you know it’s a lie. Perhaps you want to add something to the conversation that the person who posted it wouldn’t want you to. Or perhaps you want to say something that you know is true, but will hurt the other person. Some people would be able to just post that message, say their piece, whatever they need to do. But because I know that doing so will have consequences, and will make someone else feel bad – even though I’m not a particular fan of the person in question and probably shouldn’t care whether or not it makes them feel bad – I won’t do it.

Sure, being this way makes me a super-nice person. But it also means that things that potentially need to be said get left unsaid. Making snarky comments often doesn’t achieve anything, but at the same time, keeping things bottled up inside isn’t good, either.

I even find it difficult to respond to someone who insults me directly. You’ve heard the examples of the assholes in the street who think it’s amusing to yell stuff at me. One time I managed a barely-audible “fuck you” at the passing piece of shit, and nothing happened. Even thinking about saying that caused me a considerable amount of anxiety, though, as I felt I had no right to say that. Weird, non?

There are those who say that in order to get ahead, you have to be ruthless, or at least assertive. One of the steps along that path is saying what you mean and then dealing with the consequences when they happen; not refusing to say anything in fear of any potential consequences, most of which probably won’t happen.

This whole post is an example of overthinking things. The hypothetical situation above of course happened, and two people out of the, err, two I spoke to thought I should have posted the snarky comment that I really wanted to. But I haven’t, and I won’t. Because being Lawful Good won’t let me do such a thing.