In the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game, a character's identity is partly determined by their “alignment”—a general guideline that broadly describes their moral and personal attitudes, typically categorized along the axes of law versus chaos and good versus evil.
This allows for nine combinations, one of which is "chaotic good." Someone who belongs to this group has a kind heart and a free spirit. They act according to their conscience, with little regard for what others expect of them.
People are big fans of this archetype, and to showcase its true potential, they’re even going online to share stories of what it looks like in real life. Here are the most interesting ones!
#1
Friend of mine named Ivan, years ago I was really poor. I was so poor that I when rent was due, I had to fast for 2 weeks until I got paid.
Anyway, my friend Ivan dropped by and asked for something to drink and I told him I had water in the fridge.
He saw that was all I had in the fridge, one gallon of water. He checked my cupboards, I thought he was looking for a cup - so I told him which cupboard the cups were in.
He just said "dude, I'll be back in 30 minutes."
30 minutes later he shows up with 10 bags of groceries. At first I was like "dude you didn't..."
He cut me off and goes "When's the last time you ate?"
I couldn't bring myself to say it and he just went "uh huh, yes I did bro."
I'll never forget that.
Anyway, my friend Ivan dropped by and asked for something to drink and I told him I had water in the fridge.
He saw that was all I had in the fridge, one gallon of water. He checked my cupboards, I thought he was looking for a cup - so I told him which cupboard the cups were in.
He just said "dude, I'll be back in 30 minutes."
30 minutes later he shows up with 10 bags of groceries. At first I was like "dude you didn't..."
He cut me off and goes "When's the last time you ate?"
I couldn't bring myself to say it and he just went "uh huh, yes I did bro."
I'll never forget that.
277points
#2
Was at a market in Mozambique with a guide. Guide asks stall seller if he has any "really fresh" pangolin (illegal as hell and endangered). Seller shows him a box with two live ones. Guide turns to me and yells "run," punches the seller, grabs the box, and books it across the market toward where we had parked. He released the critters later that day. It was an interesting trip.
256points
#3
I worked in a Starbucks as a student. One day, one of our regulars came in crying as she found out her boyfriend had been cheating on her.
Our shift supervisor took out a full chocolate cake, dropped it on the counter from a height of about 2cm and said "oh no, I dropped it. Can't sell it now."
Handed her the cake, a fork and a canister of whipped cream while I made her a free drink.
He then proceeded to tell people that we were out of cake for the day.
10 years on, still remember the smile she gave us :)
Our shift supervisor took out a full chocolate cake, dropped it on the counter from a height of about 2cm and said "oh no, I dropped it. Can't sell it now."
Handed her the cake, a fork and a canister of whipped cream while I made her a free drink.
He then proceeded to tell people that we were out of cake for the day.
10 years on, still remember the smile she gave us :)
239points
So does the end justify the means? Peter Singer, a moral philosopher and Emeritus Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, says yes.
"I rejected and still reject the idea that there are some things that are always wrong, no matter what the consequences," he explains in an interview for NPR.
"I think that the consequences do determine what is right or wrong. And there are no moral absolutes where you must never do something in any imaginable circumstances." The chaotic goods would be delighted to hear this!
#4
About The Great British Bake Off hosts:
When contestants do cry—out of frustration or disappointment, generally—Mel and Sue stand near them and use un-airable language so the embarrassing footage is tainted, and won't make it into the final edit.
When contestants do cry—out of frustration or disappointment, generally—Mel and Sue stand near them and use un-airable language so the embarrassing footage is tainted, and won't make it into the final edit.
213points
#5
Kid I went high school with was a 2 time state champion wrestler. He was terrifying, built like a brick house by the time he was 14, by the time he was 18 he was a solid wall of muscle. He was also a vicious jerk, highly aggressive, and a big time bully.....to other bullies
This kid would beat anyone who messed with someone that couldn't defend themselves. If he saw a bigger kid bullying with a smaller kid, they were toast. Dude was the superman of my school. If anyone was giving you trouble, you went to him. He'd take care of it after school.
This kid would beat anyone who messed with someone that couldn't defend themselves. If he saw a bigger kid bullying with a smaller kid, they were toast. Dude was the superman of my school. If anyone was giving you trouble, you went to him. He'd take care of it after school.
211points
#6
When I used to walk home from class at night, there’s this dude always there that would always call me “gangsta, major respect” but never anything else (for reference, I’m a nineteen year old short Hawaiian girl, and not very threatening looking). We’ll call him JD. He’d ask how my day was, if I’m getting home okay, if I had any problems getting home, etc. I began to look forward to it when I walked home from class. A couple of times I would be having a bad day and this fella, who was outside rain or shine, would always say hi to me.
One day, I was walking back and he was talking to a buddy. Said buddy looked me over and whistled, to which JD whacked him on the shoulder and said angrily “show some respect!” and smiled at me and said “you have a good night, gangsta.”
I hope he’s doing alright.
One day, I was walking back and he was talking to a buddy. Said buddy looked me over and whistled, to which JD whacked him on the shoulder and said angrily “show some respect!” and smiled at me and said “you have a good night, gangsta.”
I hope he’s doing alright.
187points
Philosopher Peter Singer has built his life around the idea that logic and calculation are better guides to moral behavior than feelings and intuitions.
Reason dictates that your suffering doesn't count for more than someone else's suffering. If you believe that all lives are equal — and most people say they do — you should make choices that limit the greatest amount of suffering, regardless of whether that suffering is your own, that of an animal in a factory farm, or that of a stranger halfway around the planet.
#7
One day my mother was sitting on a crowded tram. Beside her was "some punk with safety pins on his clothes" chewing a wad of gum. Opposite was a woman with a little girl, maybe about 8 years old.
The kid is swinging her legs like kids do and keeps kicking my mam in the shins. Mam politely asks her to stop. The kid's mother tells her that she won't tell the kid to stop because her parenting coach has said she has no right to impose rules on her kid's choices and that everybody should be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want.
Tram pulls in, and the punk beside my mother takes the gum out of his mouth, reaches over, squishes it between the lady's eyebrows, winks at Mam, and leaves.
The kid is swinging her legs like kids do and keeps kicking my mam in the shins. Mam politely asks her to stop. The kid's mother tells her that she won't tell the kid to stop because her parenting coach has said she has no right to impose rules on her kid's choices and that everybody should be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want.
Tram pulls in, and the punk beside my mother takes the gum out of his mouth, reaches over, squishes it between the lady's eyebrows, winks at Mam, and leaves.
172points
#8
My grandma was a kindergarten teacher for 50 years. Yup, you read that right. She retired at the mandatory age of 72. It was a small community, most economically ok, but some poverty. Every few years grandma would develop a case of the clumsy. She'd trip while watering the plants and wouldn't you know it but she'd spill a bit of water on the child that was unwashed and wore the same clothes for weeks. Nothing for it but to make up for her mistake by giving him a bath and clean clothes...then return the clothes she messed up after she cleaned them. A case of clumsy would last the whole school year and oddly enough she tripped near the same child every time.
The case of clumsy often meant she miscounted her grandchildren every morning and made an extra lunch. Would you mind taking it so it doesn't go to waste?
The case of clumsy often meant she miscounted her grandchildren every morning and made an extra lunch. Would you mind taking it so it doesn't go to waste?
171points
#9
When I was still in my medical training in Westwood, I often saw a middle-aged gentleman putting coins into expired meters. The one time I saw a meter maid try to approach him and he ran off giggling. A few months later I saw him at a stop sign in a Maserati. Basically the definition of chaotic good.
167points
"I do think that the end justifies the means," Singer adds. "I think that that's the point, in a way, that, of course, bad ends don't justify means. And if the means involve harming people and there are other means that you could have taken, then you should take those other means."
"But if the only way to prevent something very bad happening is to do something which would itself be bad but not as bad as the very bad thing that you're trying to prevent happening, then you're justified in doing the lesser evil rather than allowing the greater evil to occur," the philosopher says.
#10
This one actually happened yesterday at work. A girl and her mom came in and got a few sandwiches, but the girl wanted a brownie. They were paying cash, but were like 3 bucks short for the brownie. The girl didn't throw a fit or anything, but was pretty sad. I was just gonna let them take it, it's just a brownie, but before I can say anything, the guy behind them says "I would like all but 5 of your brownies." Mind you, this is like 40 brownies, which costs like a 110 bucks of just brownies. He proceeds to then give the girl all of the brownies, which needed 3 bags just to carry all of them. The girl was ecstatic, and everyone else was laughing. We'll never forget you, brownie man.
165points
#11
Was working at a coffee shop. This lady was on her phone and it was time to order. Generally I handle this by going lawful evil and asking, as loudly as possible as many applicable questions that require more than a yes/no answer as I can think of. On this particular day the tall man behind her just starts screaming "HANG THE PHONE UP AND ORDER!" then berates her publicly for being rude. It was everything I had ever wanted to say. He scared the hell out of the rude lady too.
156points
#12
A friend was working in the ER when she was going to school and a woman came in who had her arm broken when someone stole her purse. As that woman was being checked, a man came in who was hit by a truck after the driver saw him stealing a woman's purse and running away. Purse was returned.
149points
#13
Once a year, there's this old gentleman who buys out the entire Alamo Drafthouse in Kansas City, all six theatres, and makes it an admission-free day for everyone to come see the movies, to honor his late wife. He's really chill about it too, doesn't show up in person or ask for anything.
145points
#14
My mum. She’s a guerrilla gardner. She’s in her early 60’s and she goes out at night with a group of her pensioner mates and plants flowers, sows seeds and tidies neglected public land (like roundabouts and grass verges).
I’m pretty sure she knows who’s been yarn bombing round here too, but she refuses to grass them up.
I’m pretty sure she knows who’s been yarn bombing round here too, but she refuses to grass them up.
144points
#15
I remember in middle school there was a lunch lady who would ever so slightly overcook cookies or pizza or fries from the snack line so that she could say that they were not suitable to sell and then she would give them to the kids who were getting the disgusting meal because they had no money in their lunch accounts.
138points
#16
We have a few (technically illegal) graffiti artists around town, who all have different tags. They also seem to have different territories, as you only see one tag in any specific area. A lot of us love their work, and they all keep it "G rated" so the city/property owners never minded.
Then, overnight, an extremly racist drawing appeared on a black business owners front windows...along with a tag from a guy we'll call J. It was quickly removed, but understandably many people became worried about the graffiti artists in general.
Over the next few days, Js entire territory was plastered with drawings from different tags. They covered every bit of his work with puppies, rainbows, cupcakes, anything considered cute. Each time he did a new one, it was covered up the next night.
Eventually he stopped trying, and his territory remains a sort of neutral zone.
Then, overnight, an extremly racist drawing appeared on a black business owners front windows...along with a tag from a guy we'll call J. It was quickly removed, but understandably many people became worried about the graffiti artists in general.
Over the next few days, Js entire territory was plastered with drawings from different tags. They covered every bit of his work with puppies, rainbows, cupcakes, anything considered cute. Each time he did a new one, it was covered up the next night.
Eventually he stopped trying, and his territory remains a sort of neutral zone.
130points
#17
Restaurant. Down a cook. Down two servers. Getting busy. Both cook and server doing their best. One mother from a table steps up, talks to server, and suddenly she's delivering plates to tables, taking drink orders and filling/delivering for a solid half an hour until another server rocks up for work. Hope like mad they got their meal comped.
128points
#18
In my country, potholes are notorious for going unchecked. A facebook group sprung up called "Adopt a pothole" and it started as just posting pics of potholes and tagging the government agency in charge (the government is responsible for damages to cars caused by potholes *that they are aware of* so they tagged them as proof). But they still weren't getting filled. And that's when it got wild. People started planting palm trees inside the potholes and posting those pictures. I can only assume it was effective. Because I saw a pic of one near my neighborhood, went and saw it to confirm and within a few days it had been filled.
Edit: Felt the need to share some of the pics from the facebook group.
God I love my country and my people
Edit2: Yes, those are banana trees. Sorry, in Spanish they are considered/classified as a palm tree.
Edit: Felt the need to share some of the pics from the facebook group.
God I love my country and my people
Edit2: Yes, those are banana trees. Sorry, in Spanish they are considered/classified as a palm tree.
Report
115points
#19
I once felt bad for a little old lady waiting at a crosswalk with me. She was moving so slowly and carefully with two canes. Not sure what the story behind having two canes is but I really wanted to say something. Watching her take almost a minute to manage her canes and push the button to cross made me feel bad for her.
Now most sane people just say hello, mention the weather, something trivial. Me? I challenge her to a race across the street. I'm still not sure why I landed on that as my choice but it came to mind and... well... I just said it.
After thoroughly crushing me in said race (I was carrying groceries and totally caught off guard). She literally jumped up and down laughing at me when she got to the other side. Looking back I'm a little hurt at the deception and cannot believe her dedication to her slow, innocent old lady routine.
100% glad I did it though, she was thrilled.
Now most sane people just say hello, mention the weather, something trivial. Me? I challenge her to a race across the street. I'm still not sure why I landed on that as my choice but it came to mind and... well... I just said it.
After thoroughly crushing me in said race (I was carrying groceries and totally caught off guard). She literally jumped up and down laughing at me when she got to the other side. Looking back I'm a little hurt at the deception and cannot believe her dedication to her slow, innocent old lady routine.
100% glad I did it though, she was thrilled.
111points
#20
I sometimes call apartment complexes that I know don't offer recycling service and I pretend to be interested in an apartment. Then I ask if they have recycling and back out once they say no. I do this to the same ones from different numbers over the course of a few months so they don't get suspicious. Sometimes I have friends call too.
So far only one has added recycling, but I'm still working on the others!
So far only one has added recycling, but I'm still working on the others!
111points