If no good deed goes unpunished, should we stop doing good?

If no good deed goes unpunished, should we stop doing good?

It is such a tragedy to think that the world can sometimes be so harsh. A jungle-like “survival of the fittest” paradigm is one thing. However, what’s worse is when the world can be so evil that it punishes good deeds.

Thus, I find so much meaning and beauty in doing good for its own sake and not for an expected reward. Maybe we can have faith that there is a reward, but expectations can ruin an otherwise virtuous cycle of good.

This is why we are called to be as wise as serpents yet as innocent as doves.

And if we frame this as a challenge, isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that flow-inducing? When an artist is one with the craft and an athlete one with the sport, isn’t this the most fulfilling experience?

When the person is one with the good deed, isn’t this an example of humanity in its most authentic and fullest?

Mark 3:1-6. “They watched Jesus closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him.”

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-018: JANUARY 18, 2023]

Quick meta-reflection on AI-assisted writing: I tried using ChatGPT again, but I was not satisfied with its outputs. It gave useful analogies and ideas, but it felt like a listicle and generic. I had a pointed idea to reflect on the saying “no good deed goes unpunished”, and I felt that writing this reflection mostly from scratch helped me articulate my insights through my “voice”. For what it’s worth, using ChatGPT this time strengthened my conviction about an angle I wanted to build on by making me realize the angles I did not want to include in my reflection.