In this book Norman S. Care addresses the question of what it is to be a good or decent person. His discussion is centered on motivation issues, rather than on the content of moral principles or the imperatives of ethical theory. He argues that decent people are constrained by moral-emotional nature to take certain things seriously, and this is part of what it means to have a moral life. The background of the discussion is the world around us. 'The world is no extension of the affluence that shields a few of us; it is instead a sea of pain and despair, with only small and sometimes temporary islands of stability and prosperity.'