This is a question that most of may have asked ourselves at some point in our lives. I am reading a book by the same name. The majority of us may think that we have to be the best and compare themselves and others against impossibly high standards resulting in disappointment, guilt and even depression.
Drawing from the Bible, theology, psychology, modern literature the author Rabbi Harold Kushner in his book ‘How Good Do we have To Be?’ shows how ‘acceptance and forgiveness can change our relationship with the most important people in our lives and help us meet the challenge of being human’.
Kushner starts from the very beginning thinking how a loving God can punish severely Adam and Eve for breaking one rule. He recalls many instances where people rejected someone for making one mistake doing exactly what God did in the beginning and justifying their act with happened at the very beginning.
Kushner shows us that ‘God doesn’t stop loving us every time we do something wrong’. Similarly, ‘we should not stop loving ourselves and each other for not being less than perfect’.
If this is the attitude of our parents, religious leaders in the past, it’s not the correct attitude.
Kusher hope that our self-worth and our relationships with all people will improve once we learn the lesson that one mistake need not lead to rejection and banishment.
The message Kushner gives us is,
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