Wagon Wheel

They say that a good movie makes you feel something.

You know, when you watch something like Requiem for a Dream, and at the end the person next to you is actually asking you to hold them, and you swear you'll never watch it again and that you'll never take drugs.
But then, after you're over how awful the movie made you feel, you realise,
"Hey. It actually made an impact on me."
Which is saying something, when we can be so desensitized in this day and age.
So a few months later you're watching it with someone else who you recommended it to, and then they just hold you and make you promise them to never do anything like that.
Or you watch The Shawshank Redemption, and when he hangs himself from the roof, you just sob. And the person sitting next to you looks more than a little gobsmacked, and doesn't really know what to do with the staunch person next to them who has suddenly completely morphed into a vulnerable, sensitive, weeping child.

And they say a good book keeps you reading it.

You know, you're drawn in. The little cliffhangers at the end of end chapter make you think, "Oh, maybe just one more chapter before bed."
When the voice suddenly appears from nowhere and you're not quite sure who it belongs to yet.
When a secret is suddenly revealed that makes you gasp, and you want to know what sort of butterfly effect this is going to cause.
They leave you aching to read more, know more, and suddenly it's four hours before you need to get up for work.

And then we come to music, and good music seems to be a lot harder to define.

Maybe it's catchy, maybe it's all subjective, maybe it's flawlessly composed, maybe it speaks to you, maybe the lyrics are the work of a true poet.
Maybe it makes you want to dance, cry, sing, laugh, exercise.
Maybe it all depends on your mood.

But then, then we get to people.

And then 'good' becomes a very tricky word indeed.

Just because someone makes you feel something, doesn't mean they're 'good.'
It could mean they're manipulative, conniving, a flirt, or just plain scary.

And a 'good' person isn't necessarily going to keep you coming back for more.

No, just like the books you read, you might be hanging on to their every word and keeping your eyes peeled for them because they're exciting, dangerous, different, and unlike anything you've ever encountered.
Not because they're someone who is inherenty nice. (Although, that too could be the case.)

'Good' people seem even harder to define than 'good' music.

In the case of people, 'good' is most certainly subjective.

How many times have you found yourself saying, "He/She's honestly one of the nicest people you'll ever meet," only to be proven wrong?

Have you ever had someone die, and all you hear is people talking about how 'good' they were, and you sit there thinking, "Well, I loved them, but they weren't 'good.'

Or someone sits you down upon your first time in their house, and all of a sudden you hear them saying, "They were telling me that I had to believe in the notion of original sin, and I just couldn't accept that."

Or maybe you realise that maybe the way it all turned out was for the best. Maybe they were wonderful, but they weren't 'good.'

What's my point?
Are we all inherently evil?
Are we all innocent until society forces us to become guilty?

I have no idea.

I just want to know how we judge these things.