Becoming a good person seems like an obvious goal, a no-brainer. Despite that, not many of us really try. And fewer succeed. What's the problem? Dennis Prager discusses this in his 10/4/2011 Rosh Hashanah sermon. I'll list the 13 bullet points, but the full text is well worth reading.

  1. Most people don’t particularly want to be good.
  2. Confusion about what goodness is.
  3. Goodness is not about intentions.
  4. We don’t learn how to be good.
  5. We think too highly of ourselves.
  6. We think we will be taken advantage of.
  7. Few personal models.
  8. We don’t believe that there are rewards for being good.
  9. We have to battle our nature.
  10. I’m a victim.
  11. Few people were raised to be good people.
  12. In our formative years, the least impressive are rewarded.
  13. Psychological blocks.

 

Links to more on this topic: