Doing good by accident or coincidence is not sufficient. Being good requires conscious thought, recognition that one has choices, and actively and, in light of that recognition, deliberately choosing to do the right thing. Not think the right thing, do the right thing.
I may think it’s right to help feel the hungry, but unless I take action to actually feed the hungry, I have done no good.
That’s a wonderful scene, and it touches on something so profound, so moving! Speaking of the
“trappings of the law,” he says, “Those are just symbols of our desire to be just. They are in fact prayer. They are the fervent, frightened prayer.” I love that!
“Let hands speak for me!”
But I wonder that if I think “affair” with my neighbor, have I already set forth the act? There is a great final scene from Lumet’s “The Verdict” that I often go back to on this thought:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o15uqb30Fq8