Is it better to be kind or be right? I used to think being right was the most important thing. But now I am not so sure.

Dear Luke,

Properly understood it is not an alternative. Both kindness and rightness call for an attentiveness to the other, oriented by a sense of the good. This is based on a particular idea of the good. Yet, it is not owned by any particular human individual but transcendent of all individuals. It is the idea of the good that connects kindness and rightness. Kindness can be patronising or pandering, rightness can be righteous; but, they do not have to be.

Maeve Cook