How to Measure Yourself

How about this for a starting sentence that grabs you and draws you in:
Sorry I haven't written in a while. I've been really busy. I am at home for about 1-2 hours a weeknight. Usually gym, soccer (on an indoor team now; and we're good!), dodgeball, other shit. Anyway, I don't want to focus on that.

I had a thought today. This thought was sparked by the gates foundation, which isn't the first time the foundation has done so (maybe a future post will talk about the incongruent thinking (making up a phrase) that the foundation is based upon). The point is, it got me thinking about being a good person. More though, it was how do you measure a person - are they a good or bad person? Am I a good person? If I died tonight, would someone make a special effort to point out that I am a good person or would it be the usual funeral pillow talk?
This is what I ultimately came up with, and yes, it is pretty subjective and totally not definitive. It seems pretty simple at first, did that person do more good than harm in their life? That's a question you can apply day by day too. In fact, it's probably more applicable to the day by day. Let me explain a little bit.
First, part of the problem is that sometimes you feel like you are doing good when in reality you are fucking shit up for the people in the streets (d quote for you, consider yourself lucky). Many people feel good about themselves because, hey I'm helping by donating time to give poor people in Africa food. That sounds perfect - helping hungry kids is awesome. The thing is, that may have actually done more harm than good. Feeding the deer in the wild is another good example, sure they didn't starve but they became accustomed to humans and dependent - end up starving to death during the winter. Helping these starving kids is the good part, but you are doing it stupidly. By doing so, you are fucking up the local economy, now they are dependent on support because farmer in the area can't compete with free. If support falls short, it's not like you can go plant a crop and have it ready tomorrow. The point is, it isn't always the thought that counts. You want to do good, but be smart about it. Digression - giving money to a charity doesn't count for shit, it's a cop out, you don't have to actually do anything. Back to it - be smart about it. Yes, we are all busy and it's hard to find time to research shit, but it's part of being a good person - taking the time to make sure your good intentions don't fuck things up worse.
Now, the option to donate money or time to the "great deed" things. However, I'd argue the day to day good deeds are more important and much less subjective. letting an old lady have the seat on the bus, or letting someone out of the parking lot, volunteering sometime for the community, watching your sister's kids, etc. The day to day things are super easy and obvious and generally the people that aren't super famous are remembered for these actions when they die.
So ultimately, unless you are big time and can afford the time to travel over to Africa to teach the farmers sustainable farming practices and the like, doing the small ones day to day is where it's at. Granted it's up to you to judge yourself in the end, but I think it's safe to say that the day to day stuff is pretty obvious for good versus bad.
D