The Common Good according to....

You never know what thought will top the bill each day or each week but today, what has got the cogs of this mind going, is the idea of the Common Good.  It would be very odd for someone to want NO good for themselves and quite unusual for them not to want it for their family or those who they think are part of their circle.  Politicians, philosophers and religious leaders have the idea in their thinking and good on them, it is a common idea that we want the good for others but what is uncommon is to want people to have the same amount of good that we enjoy.  Go on, dare to think about the way you want to parcel out the good you  might have, isn't it first to those I like, then those I should like but nothing for those I want nothing to do with.  And that must be because of who you/I think I am.
Philosophy is an ace here because it doesn't let you rest with yesterday's thinking, it forces forward the ideas that have governed your mind so you can find out if they really hold up to the light.   Many of them just don't, most of them are about what you think you are in relation to what you think that other person is and these ideas govern how you parcel out the good that you have and are.
When you meet someone who is free of ideas about you, is like a child perhaps but not childish, is open to like and share with you, it is a treat, and more, it frees you to like them really because you like yourself.  If someone is patronising and makes you feel less than you would like to be, it is a real turn off but if they look you in the eye, give you a smile, you are going to be off towards the common good.
Apparently, according to Clifford Longley on BBC Thought for the Day, the common good is according to Christians, Muslims, Jews, Politicians, Plato, Aristotle and you will hear about it from every politician in the conference season. You can listen again although I don't thinkJust hold it up to the light and see if it has anyone excluded from it and then please, whoever you are, include them in this terrific GREAT IDEA.