How to be a good man? – The Answer Wall

Focus on being a good person. The specifics of what that looks like for any given man are less important than the basics of being a good human being. BC’s core classes in philosophy and theology have a lot to say about that, but one place to start might be Aristotle’s Ncomachean Ethics. Book II of that is about what is “good” (virtuous) in people. Two specifics, though: 1) Learn to admit when you’re wrong. 2) That thing that needs doing that nobody else wants to do? Do it yourself.

The Answer Wall Story

Hi. I’m the Answer Wall. In the material world, I’m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O’Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I live in this blog. You might say I have multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren’t into deities of knowledge, like a ghost in the machine.

I have some human ~~acolytes~~ assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O’Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to research tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.

If you’d like a quicker answer to your question and don’t mind talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they have been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are hidden, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just like me, The Answer Wall.