Lately, I have been watching the first season of a sitcom called The Good Place. It features Kristin Bell as Eleanor, who died and was sent to the afterlife. In the afterlife, there is The Good Place and The Bad Place. Eleanor is sent to the former but is having trouble fitting in. After settling in, it comes to light that there is another person by the same name who died at the same time, and was inadvertently sent to The Bad Place. It goes without saying that Kristin’s Eleanor turned out to have not been a very nice person in her past. Long story short, her friends in The Good Place try to help her be a better person, and it is agreed that if she can up her “life points”, she can stay. She needs over 1.2 million points to stay, and she arrived deeply in the red. Of course, hilarity ensues. And of course, this got me thinking about how I would fare if this fictional place were real.
from The Good Place
In The Good Place, points were tallied for doing good deeds, and the size of those deeds is commensurate with a number of points given. For every transgression, points are deducted.
I think I am a decent person. I am honest, hardworking and empathetic to others. I am also snarky, impatient and quietly judgemental. Could the good outweigh the bad?
Are a few well-placed albeit “bad” words used for emphasis, rather than actual curse worth a trip to the Bad Place? How about a few snarky comments whispered to someone who gets my humor? Can those tiny little deficits be made up by equally tiny acts of holding doors, being super polite to restaurant workers and giving up my seat on the subway? I spend my days making cookies. Everyone loves cookies, right? Doesn’t that count for something?
Where do all the politicians go? Is there a special place for them in the afterlife? How about those whose religious beliefs make them so pious that they ultimately are intolerant of those who don’t share their views? Is being good subjective, with different standards for different groups, or would they call it like it is, deducting points for denying rights to those who are of a different race, religion or sexual orientation?
One cannot compare the act of saving lives, helping to broker world peace or curing a deadly disease to the type of acts of kindness most of us are capable of. Yet, if we all tried to be the best people we could be in this life, maybe Earth could be The Good Place.
Which place do you think you would go to, and why? Let us know in the comments. Also, season two is shaping up to be a little weird. Thoughts?
Tags: bad habits, good deeds, The Bad Place, The Good Place, tv
Indigo jones 
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