I feel like people underestimate good people.

Two of my favorite shows this year have featured two main characters who were inherently good people and genuinely helpful individuals. (For anyone wondering it was two anime shows, My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer.) If you don’t like them, no quarrel with you! That is your opinion and I definitely respect it. It is just a show and is based on perspective. My issue comes with some of the constant gripes people have with these characters, saying they are less interesting and weaker than protagonists from other shows because they help others and show emotion. I just wanted to go over some of the common critiques I’ve seen about these two characters, and good characters in general.

Good people are not boring. I have heard this so many times, and it irks me that people seem to confuse consistency with simplicity, and how difficult consistency is. If a person remains helping the weaker individuals at all times, working not out of revenge but for the benefits of others, throughout every challenge, it is not as monotonous as people seem to think. The majority of the population’s actions are reflected and motivated by their emotions. Many times, aggressive actions are thus a result of negative emotions like jealousy or revenge. This is what people think is “interesting,” which is understanding. They can relate as well. We have all been succumbed to various moments of rage, and then they look at a character who still works out of the goodness of their heart and it’s mundane to them. However, a simple deeper look would simply show these characters are not devoid of emotion, in fact they are probably filled with them. A good person takes an effort to control themselves to that they can be a source of positivity for the rest, so that they can continue helping despite any other emotion they may feel. It takes a tremendous amount of will to take a step back from any individual pursuit and help others. It is entirely selfless, and the effort sometimes will then leave them at a loss. And yet they continue to do it time and time again. It is not that they are lame, it is not that they lack any development, it is that they are amazing souls who are like the rest of us, but so much stronger.

That strength is used to suppress their own emotions for the benefit of everyone else. So why are these characters so emotional? Why can’t they be cold and impressive ruthless characters that are awesome to see, why instead do they cry? Anyone who has had to keep their emotions in check at any point in life knows how hard it is to not breakdown. They also know that when they can, they will simply crumble because that eats them up from the inside. And when they are in shambles, doing remotely anything takes incredible amounts of effort, let alone something selfless and staying as strong as they always are. Good people will have a lot of emotions stored up and be sad, and regardless they have to fight through the damage that does internally and stand up for others. That battle of emotions is the most difficult because that sticks with a person for years, and good people fight those emotions every day. They are strong. Maybe people will never think so, because strength for these characters is based on feats and how aggressive a character can take down an opponent, but with all this, I would say a good person is strongest because of the struggle and mental toll it takes.

Ultimately, I feel like people take the wrong things away from these characters. They are totally not relatable at the end of the day because they put their lives and souls on the line. They get back up, they jump in headfirst into the scariest of situations, and they do it to inspire and bring hope. It’s incredible. It’s not from any desire to be the best, or to kill someone who wronged them, but to defend from the weaker people who can’t fight back. And I think it is somewhat hilarious that people can still slander characters like this over a screen when in reality, they would cower in fear, run away, cry.

But I feel like it makes sense that the people with the most hatred are the most critical of genuinely good people. They think the person is dumb, naive to the realities of the world. They think the person is weak for caring, for trying to hard to care that they cry. These haters are filled with distaste for the world and people around them, they live with their emotions first. They have not consistently tried to be good in a way these characters have, and thus don’t have the greatest perception of how genuinely overbearing that task is.

I can say this as a person who has tried to be better. To help others at all times, to use my effort towards a goal that I ultimately get nothing from, to get back up when I am barely hanging from an edge. It sucks. It is so terrible, and I find myself at times where I simply cannot handle the toll of being a selfless person.

The only thing keeping me going is seeing these characters. Sure, it’s a fictional story, but I think it is incredible and inspiring. I want to be like them. I want to be the person people can go to for help always, to not get angry at people, to truly believe that everyone is worth saving. To try and do that every second of the day. It’s exhausting. I am inherently a bad person. I know I am at time, crude with my comments. I know that I want to ignore everyone and focus on myself at times, but I also know that there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to look the other way when someone comes to me for assistance. And I want to try and focus on that as I move on in life, that little pinch in the back of my mind that tells me to do the right thing. I want to pursue that until it is no longer a pinch but the sole operating force in my brain, for me to be a good person like these characters.

It won’t be easy. I am not even REMOTELY close. I have no doubt I’ve unintentionally or even at times intentionally hurt people because of how I was feeling. I know that at times, I want to tell someone that I don’t want to help them because they are selfish, or rude, or I simply do not like them because of my own personal perspectives. But I am going to try. I am going to try as hard as I can every second of the day to become a better person, to evolve into the strongest types of people: the good-hearted individual.

This quarantine has shown me the true colors of people when they feel alone. Everyone is mad, everyone is jealous, everyone is hateful and scornful and always always dissatisfied. Everyone works on their own desires, and many do so with little regard of the effect it has on others. Everyone has levels of fakeness that they use for their own benefit, so many people openly use other people under the fake and vague umbrella term of “friends” when in reality no one sided relationship is really a friendship at all. And it has also shown me how lacking the world is in people who are amazing. How few people there are that can work in a time like this and still help, especially with the massive influx of issues of a quarantine period.

My goal for the rest of my future is to try and be one of those special snowflakes. To be someone who works for the good of others, who will always stop to help out, to stand when others are down, and only let myself fall when I’m alone. To inspire hope, to be friendly. That is a legitimate focus now, and something I will try to do to the best of my ability. Maybe people will think I’m weak. Or boring. Or whatever they want. Maybe I will suffer emotionally, maybe I will find it impossible and give up 10 years down the line. Who knows?

All I know is that despite the difficulties, the views of the world, and how underestimated I might be, my lifelong goal will to be included in the exclusive, good people club.