Nothing that I can do will change the structure of the universe. But maybe, by raising my voice I can help the greatest of all causes -- goodwill among men and peace on earth. - Albert Einstein

   Goodwill is sometimes defined as "benevolence." True - as far as it goes. Unfortunately "benevolence," like "charity," is a word devalued through overuse.  To call someone benevolent may mean simply that he or she has a pleasant disposition and displays no obvious malice toward others. (Of course, in this era of road-rage, one should be thankful even for that!)

   Goodwill, however, is not passive but active. It is defined not by an absence of something else, but by the presence of a will to seek the good.  It is a desire, a longing, an active quest for the well-being of another person - or of a community, of a society, or of God's created world.

   Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke of how "people of ill will" seemed to have been more effective than "the people of goodwill," and went on to say, "We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people." I would say, if there is appalling silence in the face of injustice, then goodwill is in short supply.

   The closing words of Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address convey the true spirit of goodwill: "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

   I pray the new year will be a year of such goodwill.