WIcked Goodness?

"One question haunts and hurts
Too much, too much to mention:
Was I really seeking good
Or just seeking attention?
Is that all good deeds are
When looked at with an ice-cold eye?
If that's all good deeds are
Maybe that's the reason why
No good deed goes unpunished."

What an amazing verse that is! For reference, it came from Wicked "No Good Deed," sung by Elphaba. While I absolutely love the song for its own sake, this part really set my wheels in motion.

I while back I was watching Charmed (no comments. I like it, besides, if I can pull philosophy from it, it can't be all bad. And the eye candy is good too), and one of the episodes had a villain that could enhance the deadly sin you leaned towards the most. One of the girls showed Pride. Without getting into it, you could get rid of his "curse" by helping another. The one exception was Pride. The reasoning was that when you are prideful, anything you do is a benefit to you, and therefore not selfless enough to remove the curse. Hmmm.

When someone does good, are they seeking Good, in the moral sense, or are they being drawn for something else? As Elphaba points out, maybe she was seeking attention for her deeds, feeding her pride. Of course we can also do good things to avoid bad attention. Corporations do that all the time. They don't want to look greedy, so they donate to a charity. Though it is indeed a good action to take, their reasoning is not for good. But this example is obvious. I think that what the song and the show pointed out is that maybe there is no such thing as a good deed.

Think about this. Can you really say that there is ever a time when you do something with no benefit? Picking up a friend in the middle of the night when you were sleeping? True, you don't want to, but really, you are doing it so that you can keep your friendship, which makes you happy and also gives you someone to call when you need help. Is that selfless or selfish? Maybe you went and worked all day at the homeless shelter. In fact, the last one of my friends that did this informed me that though he didn't get paid or anything, it made him feel good just to see the kids smile when they were given some food. Good? Or good for you?

I think you get the point. If there is always something to gain in any situation, can anything be "a good deed?" Assume again that selfishness is bad, would that mean that all good deeds are in fact inherently wicked? Now that's food for thought.