Lesson #1: Do Good

The very first lesson I'm going to start off with is a very simple and broad one: Do good.

Back when I was a kid, I was a big fan of the show Boy Meets World, and one of my favorite characters was the wise Mr. Feeny. In the series finale, Mr. Feeny gives advice to the main cast, saying, "Dream. Try. Do good." Topanga, the very academic student, says, "Don't you mean do well?" To that, Mr. Feeny replies, "No, I mean do good."

At the time I first saw that seen, I was a very young child, and I had interpreted that as Mr. Feeny trying to teach his students that grammar doesn't matter. Yeah, that was a simplisitc interpretation. As I grew older, I found out that it meant not to do well, as in make a lot of money or be the best CEO, but to do good, as in to help others and contribute to the world. Essentially, what Mr. Feeny was trying to say was that rather than be a great student or a great businessman, be a great person.

Considering this is the first post, I figure I'd try to tie this into the United State's first President (I had an obsession with Presidents when I was a kid). Growing up, we've all come to know that George Washington was a great President, but in the last couple of years, I've learned, and for this I've respected him even more for, that he was a great person as well. He was not the brightest mind, as he wasn't educated, nor was he the most brilliant general, as he did lose a number of battles during his time. However, he was seen by his colleagues as sort of a demi-God. He had great morals and character and that had a lot to do with why people respected him. He never sought power, and when it was given to him, he didn't take it greedily. When the idea of the executive was created in the late 1700s, it was created with George Washington in mind. In the history of US Presidential elections, Washington was the only person elected unanimously, and it was because his characters and his willingness to do good earned him admiration from his peers.

The Feeny scene from Boy Meets World:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIVyRjAI0pI