Can You Sleep At Night

We've all heard or used the expression "well I hope you can sleep at night."  It's used as a sarcastic way to offend someone who has done something bad.  Not awful necessarily, but bad enough that their conscious should eat at them.  The opposite is sometimes "I'm not going to lose any sleep over it."  Both are somewhat silly, but make a slight point.  Sometimes I wonder what people do or don't do that eats at them.

Recently, I've been arguing a lot of politics and religion.  I've gotten nasty at times and people gave gotten nasty with me.  One common theme coming from my opposition has been the act of being a good person. Most of them claim that liberals only care about handouts and receiving the benefits from the rich and that the conservatives are the givers.  I consider myself more on the liberal side and I take offense.  They have also preached their religion and how they are "Christians" and apparently that is supposed to be an indication they are givers and I should not question.  I am a non-believer and I am insulted and I do question, because historically I've seen religious types as takers, not givers.

I started thinking of a checklist.  Most people will say yes to all these things without thinking.  They are lying. They lie, because it makes them feel good about themselves to others.  They lie because an admission of guilt means they have lied about their morals and what they want to be. More importantly, they lie because it makes them look better in other people's eyes and that is really all that matters in today's world.

I'm an insomniac, constantly wrestling with my inadequacies and my faults, but let me ask you, those who sleep well at night.  So ask yourself this.  Have you done these things in the past few weeks?  I have and I still wish I could do more.

Have you held the door for someone...someone who was far enough away that it wouldn't have been rude for you to walk in without any regrets?

Have you crossed the street, then crossed back over to help someone else across?  In this case someone who was blind.

Have you donated money to a charity to help feed the underprivileged, when your donation, although minute was 2% of all the money you had in your bank account?

Have you let someone go in front of you on line....not because they had less items, but they seemed to be more stressed than you?

Have you given up your seat....not because the person was old or feeble, but because they arrived upon one seat and gave it to their child?

Have you sat and listened to someone's conversation....a conversation you've heard a hundred times before, but you knew it made them happy to tell it?

Have you thanked someone for doing their job....because everyone else took them for granted and you knew it was hurting them?

Have you stopped a complete stranger you passed on the street to point out a sunset.....because they might have missed it while walking the with their backs to it.

Have you seen a torn and tattered flag laying wet in the street, picked it up and folded it into a triangle....not because you're overly patriotic, but because it's the right thing to do.

Have you walked by a car late at night and saw the interior lights were on....then saw the door was unlocked, opened the door and turned the lights off.  Making sure to put the purse on the passenger seat, out of sight, beneath the driver's seat.

Have you told someone they looked good....not to flirt or come on to them, but because you truly felt it?

Have you told someone you don't know that well that you're happy you're friends....not because you are, but because you think they are special?

Have you told someone you haven't seen in a while you miss them....not because it's what you say, but because your heart aches to see them?

Finally, have you told someone you love them, not because you simply love them, but because you've hurt them so badly you can't imagine life without them?

I'm not saying I'm better than anyone else, but I sure as hell try to be, because if I'm only as good as most of the people I meet, well, our world is in serious trouble.  I guess we can all strive to be good, I'd like to think we can all just do better.