Today I was thinking about some life challenges a friend is facing and has been facing for some months now. When people we love have big problems to meet, issues to face and decisions to make we want to help. It’s nearly always a bad idea because it very often robs them of the opportunity to develop. Then, in a flash, I remembered the esoteric story of Peter and the other disciples caught in a storm while out on the sea in a small boat. Remember that story?
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"No good deed goes unpunished."
The person most frequently credited as the originator of the phrase is playwright Clare Boothe Luce. Also credited have been playwright Noel Coward, writer Oscar Wilde, journalist Walter Winchell and the late Washington Post writer Bill Gold. The original idea is probably an ancient proverb.
Appearing cynical on the surface, a closer examination of human nature reveals the False Personality to be incredibly vengeful and petty due to its hubris.
Plato has Socrates say, "An unexamined life is not worth living." The reason no good deed goes unpunished is because most people are living lives not worth living. If you feel a sting, that probably means you are spending more time and energy examining the lives of others than you are examining your own.
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