A quick warning, there are curse words that are unbeaped in today's episode of the show.

If you prefer a beeped version, you can find that at our website, thisamericanlife.org.

People are complicated.

That's my radical message for you today, America.

People contain their opposites.

I personally, for example, could be a good listener, helpful to others, and also exactly

the opposite, totally inattentive.

In a very unusual way, it comes to all that.

In fact, something I always find kind of annoying is when people say, I'm a good person.

Oh, yeah, sure, I did whatever, but you know, I'm a good person.

He blah, blah, blah, but he's a good person.

Really?

I think it says nothing real about you, at all.

Because most of us are in a mix of good and bad, right?

We have thoughtful days, and we have annoyed days.

For me, somebody who says, I'm a good person, is somebody who is not taking a very serious

look at everything they do, who they look out for and who they neglect, and all the things

they could be doing for others if they really were so good.

To be clear, there are good people out there.

There are genuinely generous, good people, I've met them, we've all met them, but in my

experience, one thing they have in common is that they know better than to sum it up with

the words, I'm a good person.

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