Does Good = Not Bad?

My husband and I actually escaped for a while today - just the two of us. We had to go and get my military ID card renewed before it expired next week and since the weather was not conducive to work today, it was a good day to go. I had to take my husband with me because he is my "sponsor". That always sort of makes me feel like a foreign exchange student or something, but there you have it.

Anyway, mission accomplished and on the way home, we stopped for brunch. We are restaurant newspaper readers. This makes my daughter nuts. She thinks it is rude. She wasn't there and we know we're not being rude to each other. I was reading the funnies and got to my very favorite:

One of the reasons I love this cartoon is because it is twisted and it makes me think. Lil man has been having behavior problems at school. His grades are excellent. His conduct is not. I was talking to him about this last night and asked him what the consequences were when he was bad. He said, "swats". His school gives swats, although how he has escaped thus far this year is beyond me. I asked what the consequences were when he was good and he did not know. So - this week, if he gets no bad marks at all, not even a warning, he and I and his Grampits are going to the movies to see the Alvin movie. If you knew my husband, you would know how surprised I was when, after he heard me make the deal with lil man (for just lil man and me), said that he would go also.

Today - no bad marks, not even a warning. Keep the lil man in your prayers, please, for success this week.

His school does give marks also for good behavior and his mother rewards him for those. I don't think he had ever put actions and consequences together in his mind as being something good also.

His behavior recently, combined with the cartoon strip this morning, makes me wonder: Is not being bad the same as being good?

I don't think so. I think that good is an action. I think that if you want to raise a good person, you cannot settle for a child who is just "not bad". I think that in order to be good, there are things you must do - that you cannot settle for just being not bad.

The Church that I belong to recognizes sin and guilt, repentance and forgiveness. It also recognizes both corporal (bodily) and spiritual works of mercy. I am not sure that the lil man is learning this at school. So, thanks to Non Sequitur for reminding me of my actions and consequences.