Goodness
Posted by Joelle
March 9, 2008
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Picture credits: Good by Russell Davies; Do gooder t shirt by Howies, an exemplary good company; leaves by me; good books from Design*Sponge guest blog post by Emily of Orange Beautiful.
As you can imagine, one of the things that required a lot of discussion before we started this blog was the name. It was Vanessa who thought up Four Good Corners, and I like it very much as a name. As well as neatly including the particular fact that we are four writers, it contained that word Good.
Now, Good is one of those words like Nice, that we were schooled out of using. ‘Don’t say something is good, use a more imaginative adjective like superior or stupendous’. But to my mind, Good is a useful word which has clear meanings, that can apply to how I live, how I work, what companies I prefer to buy from and so on.
And of course, to how I blog:
:: Good quality – when I do things, I want to do them as well as I can. I might not be as erudite as some bloggers, as wonderful a photographer, as expert a crafter, but I want to always aim to make my posts as good as I can. Decent posts I can look back on and be happy with.
:: Wholesome – all natural, free range ingredients here.
Hmm, I guess I mean posting only things that I genuinely think will be interesting or useful to you readers, and keeping a balance between ‘I want one’ product posts and other ideas.
:: Moral – by which I mean socially and environmentally responsible. I guess that is something to look for more in a person or a company than in a blog, but I hope my posts sometimes encourage this, without getting all preachy on you.
:: Kind – in blog terms this is things like crediting pictures and stories, taking time to read and reply to emails and posts, and just generally remembering that if you’ve got nothing nice to say, say nothing.
So, here’s to Good – a nice single, simple, solid word that as a concept for how to be, is a lot more useful to me than a whole string of manifestoes or resolutions.
5 comments Categories: about us
March 10th, 2008 at 10:54 am
I really like your post Jo, I also try to live by being ‘good’. It’s important not to get it too mixed up with being ‘nice’, which can just lead to being trodden on. I think women are still expected to be ‘good’ and ‘nice’ and it’s important to be so in a balanced way – be bad when it’s needed.
I think it’s also difficult to be ‘good’ living in a city like London but I try to be it in little ways, like saying “excuse me please” and “thank you” when squeezing past someone on the bus.
I think this is a really interesting topic, I’d be interested in hearing other comments…
March 10th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I definitely agree with Sonja that being ‘good’ and ‘nice’ can lead to being thought a doormat, but it is so important, when the world is full of meanies, to spread a little goodness!
March 10th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
You’re right to point out that being good and being nice are different things, in fact sometimes they could be at odds. And you’re right about London – it’s easy to forget manners that are the norm elsewhere, since everybody always seems so busy about their business that they often forget or are downright rude. Vive little ways!
March 11th, 2008 at 12:02 am
I like good more than nice as a word. Good sounds solid to me, as it does to you, where as four nice corners would sound lacking in strength. I think Sonja is right about ‘nice’ as well… I sometimes think people use ‘I’m being good’ to mean ‘I’m not eating any cake today’ too often. Being good should not have to be about denial.
I really like cake.
Cake is good. Perhaps I shouldn’t comment on things until I’ve had tea?
April 15th, 2010 at 4:54 am
Well designed template thanks for sharing it.