I have always been depressed by the idea of being merely a “pretty good” person. Before I was a Christian, I identified myself only according to characteristics that I considered wholly good (and even noble) – the parts of me that appreciated things outside of myself that I thought were good, like nature or another person. That was the “real” me, but I had no way of reconciling this desire for goodness with poorer components in my character, such as selfishness.