I have some writing to do of another form, but it's comedy writing, and before you tackle that stuff, you need to be in a good mood. Currently, I'm not in a sparkling mood, and the source is the perfect place to start with my "neo-site articles" that I said I'd write, but never did. These articles would be about trying to be a good person and the things that get in the way. Today I'd like to address suspicion.

It's hard to be a good person when people distrust what you do. People are always second-guessing actions and trying to figure out motives. It's a very rough business for someone who's trying to be a nice person. Here you are, trying to look beyond yourself and help someone in need (in some capacity), and boom-- you're being accused of having different motives for your actions. For someone like me, this really makes it tempting to throw in the towel.

Good people don't give up, right? They would look past the suspicious people and continue to do nice things, regardless of why people think they're doing them. That's why I'm still trying to be good-- I haven't achieved "good" status yet.

Maybe it's my climate? Maybe there aren't enough people in a college setting who are mature enough to think that you can do something without getting something tangible in return. One great example of this was after the hurricane last year. At my college, they were taking up a collection-- kind of. You would give ten dollars and get a shirt that, in essence, said you helped out.

I don't need a shirt to tell me I helped out-- and I sure don't help out just to get shirts. I know Greg loves a free shirt when he helps out with volunteer activities, but that's not the reason why he helps. I took a stroll over to the table and pulled out some money. I had more than the required $10, and the students looked at me funny. It only got worse when I said I didn't want a shirt.

whatever happened to this campaign?

"You don't want a shirt?"

"Nah."

"Don't you want one?"

"No, thanks."

"This guy doesn't want a shirt--"

Sigh.

"Why wouldn't you want a shirt?"

"Can't I just give the money? Like out of the goodness of my heart?"

"I guess, but you can get a shirt too."

I would've gone overboard after that, so I just gave my money and left. I think it's terrible that countless people are dying and a charity coordinator still has to think, "Well, if we really want to get money, we have to give them something in return." Why is that? Have we all become that focused on tangible things? Come on.

People out there would say, "No, I don't need anything in return," but when it all goes down and someone does something nice for them, they suspect they're up to something. Maybe it's just where I am, but it's so frustrating. It's hard to keep the faith when people don't even accept good deeds because they think you're up to something.

Should I blame it on The X-Files? They did brand "trust no one" on a generation's consciousness. I'm more inclined to think it was a domino type effect though. Enough people were suspicious of Bob, until Bob became suspicious of Judy, and on and on-- now it's too widespread. One thing's for sure: I'll keep doing nice things for strangers, if only because it makes them so uncomfortable.

So if you're out in the rain with no umbrella, I'm gonna give you mine-- without expecting a date; if you're carrying four bags of groceries, I'll take a couple off your hands-- without expecting to get into your apartment and rob the place; and if I think you could be a little bit happier, I'll get you a gift from the dollar store-- without expecting you to know it came from the dollar store.

This may not be everywhere, but I had to get that out.