Transcendentalist or not?

"Transcendentalism is a religious and philosophical movement that developed[...]as a protest against the general state of spirituality[...]among the transcendentalists' core beliefs was the inherent goodness of both people and nature. They believe that society and its institutions—particularly organized religion and political parties—ultimately corrupt the purity of the individual. They have faith that people are at their best when truly 'self-reliant' and independent. It is only from such real individuals that true community could be formed."-Wikipedia.

In my mind, transcendentalism is, in essence, a mix of humanism and idealism with a touch of disestablismentarianism. It not necessarily glorifies humans, but it does say we are good before corruption. It says that we can be better by being singular and, as a certain Mr. Emerson put it, "self-reliant". It believes that the societal institutions debase us from our near-divinity. All of this sounds nice, but the fact of the matter is that I don't believe it.

Some of it is simply my own religious beliefs, some of it is from my own personal cynicism. I have seen and felt too much hatred, too much distrust, too much inherent badness to believe that humans contain inherent goodness. Now would I like to believe this? Absolutely. I would love to see the best in everyone, I would love to be a better person than I am. But the unfortunate truth is that I can't see things that way. I see the world best described as how Calvin posed a question to Hobbes as they hurtled down a snowy hill to oblivion: "Do you think that humans are naturally good with a few bad tendencies, or naturally bad with a few good tendencies?" I would agree with the latter.

Don't get me wrong, there are decent human beings, and even a few indecent human beings who occasionally do decent things, but the fact remains, that people can't seem to shake the darkness that clouds our conscience, which, I believe, points us to good deeds, but our human nature negates said conscience. This, however begs the question, what's the point in doing good if we are just naturally bad and can't really do anything about it? The point is that doing good is the right thing. Not just because it helps you, but because it helps those around you. Good deeds or actions should never be done out of the slightest selfish desire, but a desire to help one's neighbor, to help one's country, to help one's planet. Good deeds are a rare thing these days, just about everybody has some personal agenda, other people's plans and actions be damned. But I won't say not to try and do good. On the contrary, open doors, invite people to join a conversation, be friends with those who don't seem to have many, be gracious, loving and kind, no matter your personal gain, if any.