A thought on Ethics.

There are moments in life when each of us is presented with choices to make. Sometimes these choices are easy, and sometimes they are difficult. I have always dedicated my life to trying to make the right choices as I see them. You see, I have patterned my life on a set of moral values and ethics that my upbringing and experiences have imparted in me, and for me the world is a very black and white place or at least most of the time it is. But as I get older, it seems to me that there are far more areas of differing shades of grey than I once believed. So how do we deal with those choices:  the choices where no action is one hundred percent morally or ethically right and yet the choice still needs to be made? What then?

The answer is sometimes there is no right answer. Sometimes there really are no win situations.  To some, this might seem like a pessimistic approach, but I disagree. I believe that if we acknowledge that fact, we can move on to facing whatever obstacle or challenge awaits us as a result of our choice. The key here is simply that you have to make the choice that you can live with. At the end of the day, whatever moral code or guiding principles that you subscribe to has to be satisfied. Otherwise, you will destroy yourself. There is a scene from one of my favorite TV shows that illustrates my point.  The hero is lying badly injured and perhaps dying in a hospital bed after undergoing immense hardship in order to save a major city from sure destruction. To do so, he has had to break many laws and do things that most of us would find, at the very least, unethical. However, there is still a threat out there that could potentially threaten the lives of the city’s inhabitants. The hero’s partner knows that she can stop the threat, but she will similarly have to disregard some of the same laws and rules that the hero has in order to do so. As he lays there she approaches him and asks his advice.

“ Hero: I can’t tell you what to do. I’ve been wrestling with this all my life. When I see fifteen people held hostage on a bus, everything else goes out the window, and I’ll do whatever it takes to save them and I mean whatever it takes. You know, maybe I thought, if I save them, I can save myself.”

Partner:  “Do you regret anything that you did today?”

Hero: “No. But then again, I don’t work for the FBI.”

Partner:” I don’t understand.”

Hero: “You took an oath. You made a promise to uphold the law. You cross that line, it always starts off with a small step. Before you know it, you’re running as fast as you can in the wrong direction just to justify why you started in the first place. These laws were written by much smarter men than me. And in the end, I know that these laws have to be more important than the fifteen people on the bus, I know that’s right. In my mind, I know that’s right. But I just don’t think my heart could ever have lived with that. I guess the only advice I can give you is try to make choices that you can live with.”

So folks, that’s my advice to you. Life can be difficult and eventually, we will all be faced with what seems to be an impossible situation. When no choice seems right, make the choice that is you can live with and have faith. We all have been granted the knowledge of right and wrong. We all have been given our agency to make whatever choices we choose.  But in the end, we all have to live with ourselves and God. Make sure that no matter what, when you look in the mirror, you can look yourself in the eye with self-respect, and dignity, and that on that final day, you will be able to say “I did the best that I could.”