Our idea of what constitutes social good has advanced with the procession of the ages, from those desperate times when just to keep body and soul together was an achievement, to the great present when "good" includes an agreeable, stable civilization accessible to all, the opportunity of each to develop his particular genius and the privilege of mutual usefulness.
Interpretation
The concept of social good has evolved over time from mere survival to the promotion of a thriving civilization that benefits everyone.
Frances Perkins highlights the significant evolution of our understanding of social good throughout history. Initially centered around mere survival, modern interpretations now encompass broader societal benefits, such as stability, equality, and the nurturing of individual talents, emphasizing the importance of mutual support and collective progress as hallmarks of a truly 'good' society.
In practice
In a speech on social justice, one could use this quote to illustrate the evolution of societal values.
Out of our first century of national life we evolved the ethical principle that it was not right or just that an honest and industrious man should live and die in misery. He was entitled to some degree of sympathy and security. Our conscience declared against the honest workman's becoming a pauper, but our eyes told us that he very often did.
The door might not be opened to a woman again for a long, long time, and I had a kind of duty to other women to walk in and sit down on the chair that was offered, and so establish the right of others long hence and far distant in geography to sit in the high seats.
The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to give all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life.
At this time is freedom anything but the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.
The world makes us look towards ourselves, our possessions, our desires.The Gospel invites us to be open to others, to share with the poor.
Once lead this people into war, and they'll forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance. To fight, you must be brutal and ruthless, and the spirit of ruthless brutality will enter into the very fiber of our national life, infecting Congress, the courts, the policeman on the beat, the man in the street.
Consciousness is an emergent, contingent, and impermanent phenomenon. It has no magical capacity to break free from the field of events out of which it springs.
Bliss is a thing which is always there and is not something which comes and goes. That which comes and goes is a creation of the mind.
If multiculturalism succeeds in making us a nation of independently empowered tribes, each tribe will be deprived of the comfort of victimhood and be forced to confront human limitation for what it is: a fixture of life.
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