Mark Horne » Blog Archive » Maybe our real heroes were forced into janitorial service.

Thinking about this a bit more, especially in light of my ongoing meditations on the book of Proverbs…

People want to do good.

But, as in the case of Katy Perry’s Firework (to name an egregious example because it displays the problem so well), this desire is mostly about wanting praise from (and power over) other people.

If people cared more about being free from slavery to vices and decided that it didn’t matter if they achieved anything “good” they might be much better off. As it stands, we use rather questionable attainments as an excuse to not worry about our bondage to  passions. We feel our achievements outweigh our addictions and compensate for our deeds driven by irrational lusts.

But forget about ever achieving anything. Just learn freedom from from your vices. In the process, you might learn humility and freedom from pride.

That would be a remarkable achievement.

The righteousness of the upright delivers them
but the treacherous are taken captive by their lusts.