According to Google, “good” was the term most searched for in 2018.
I’ve just come off a Christmas season of watching Hallmark movies with my wife, who loves to wear a sweatshirt that reads, “This is my Hallmark movie watching shirt.” The rise in popularity of the feel-good, predictable Hallmark movies seems to parallel the intensified focus by the media on anything hostile and negative in our world.
The ancient Roman philosopher, Cicero, coined the phrase, “summun bonum,” – the highest good. He continued the search of the ancient Greek philosophers to determine what the highest good was for human existence.
We all have our summun bonum, that which we consider our highest good. For some, it’s money; for some, it’s power; for some, it’s fame; for some, it’s family; for some, it’s material possessions. No matter what it is, we all have that which we consciously, or unconsciously, strive to attain. It is what motivates us to crawl out of bed each day and toil through the struggles of life.
What is your summun bonum? What is the good you are looking for? Have you found it?
Furthermore, how is it that you search for the good? Do you control your social media feed so only positive people are the ones you follow? What are the tricks you have up your sleeve to find the good in this world? People are searching for good; we’d like to know how you find it.
You’ll have to excuse me, now. My wife just turned on a Hallmark Christmas movie and it’s not even Christmas anymore. But after watching the evening news, I need something good to send me to bed.