Being good is commendable, but doing good is righteous Anonymous

I have been raised since the early stages of my childhood to be a generous and morally sound individual. My parents persistently ingrained in me basic and fundamental Christian virtues: charity, humility, and selflessness. This value-oriented focus during my upbringing eventually crystallized into who I became as a young teenager. I was well-mannered, respectable, and strived to be as selfless as possible. But doesn’t virtually everyone strive to be a good person? My intentions were good, but my contributions were still limited. Looking back, it felt as if I were on cruise control, in desperate need of a stimulus of some sort to jolt me into action. Sure enough, that catalyst surfaced on a frigid fall night during my sophomore year of high school.

Zack McLeod was a junior and a teammate of mine on the varsity football team. Though athletics were a strong suit of his, they did not rate highly on his priority list. His true passion rested with his faith and his unrelenting love for people. Zack’s glowing face was constantly painted with an unmistakable smile. His wrists were always covered with bracelets that he had crafted with AIDS victims in Africa upon his annual visits there. He would constantly remind classmates and...