By: Iyo_Embong

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so” – Shakespeare in Hamlet.

What makes something right as opposed to something wrong? What makes one action the right or good thing to do while another action is the wrong or bad thing to do? Is there an over-all standard set of ethical guide lines that all human beings naturally carry? Or does it depend on the culture, society, and family that you are born into. Where do people’s ethics and morals come from? Why is it that so many people can and do, act outside of those ethics on such a common basis?

Some say, listen to your inner voice, some give moral teachings from the religious literature. Some say listen to me. Specially parents: every one have their own experiences and same they teach to their children, “Son, do this, do not do this etc. This is right, so is wrong!” Our friends have their own understanding, “As a good friend, stop! Don’t do it! It is wrong!” But exactly what is wrong, and what is right?

Who, or what, is able to determine what is “right” and what is “wrong”? What’s more, does the ability to accurately see the difference between the two even exist, or is all judgment skewed by the individual? Or are they justifications able to make what would be wrong, actually right?

We can spend days parsing out the philosophical, moral, religious, political and legal parameters of right and wrong. A lot depends on where you are right now, your age, your profession, your country peace status with the world or neighbouring countries.

If you are a soldier serving in Afghanistan, then you have to protect yourself and your unit from enemy attacks. Therefore killing your enemies is right, because the army tells you so, even if your inner voice tells you it is wrong to take someone else’s life.

For me, there is no ultimate right or wrong in most of the cases. Life is about decision making and risk taking, ability to learn and develop, strength to overcome difficulties but most importantly about having a purpose and not get lost. The richer the experience the better the lessons, the higher the purpose the bigger the satisfaction. And who of us is so smart to allow himself to say what is right or wrong?

It is the eternal struggle between these two principles – right and wrong. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time and will ever continue to struggle. What is right today may not be right tomorrow. But we are not going to do wrong today for tomorrow’s right.

It has been my experience that most people I talk to about this have the opinion that there is a standard set of ethical guide lines that all people naturally have in them. This may however be because I was born in a rather conservative, primarily Christian country. It is my understanding and belief that a God has established and has installed in every human being, the guidelines of what is good or right, and what is evil or wrong.

Humans have done some extremely violent things in our relatively short history, genocide for example. Between 1900 to 1950 alone we had 29 incidents of genocide between, Americans to the Indians, Germans, Jews, Russians, Asians, Muslims, Christians & etc…

Clearly, there are a great many people that have justified the killing of other human beings on a large scale. Given this information one could conclude that if there is a standard set of ethics every human being shares, it must be that the killing of other human beings is considered as being one of the okay or even right things to do. However, when asked, almost everybody will say that killing is a bad thing or is wrong. So if everyone thinks that killing and mass killing is a bad thing to do, then why do so many people do it? Whether it’s over war, resources, or differences in culture, it appears that humans have no problem with adjusting their morals or ethics to meet the circumstances and to satisfy their personal needs.

Anybody who has spent time around different cultures than their own can see that different peoples have differing beliefs, what is acceptable behaviour and what is not. In some African countries it is deemed necessary to circumcise women. Nearly 90% of women in these countries are estimated to have been genitally mutilated. In the United Arab Emirates it is a criminal offence to eat, drink or smoke in public during ‘Ramadan’ from sunrise to sunset.

We even see large variations in ethical opinions of people living in the same society. As an example we can look at environmentalism. We hear the conflictions of environmentalism vs. economics everyday in the news. This can only be because of some major differences in opinions of what is right and what is wrong.

What makes something right as opposed to something wrong? This is a question that human beings have been arguing about for all of recorded history. I do not see this changing any time in the foreseeable future. However, even though we may all not be able to agree on our ethical beliefs, it is advantageous for each of us to think about them from time to time before making decisions. Perhaps our world would be different if everyone did this.

So, what is right and what is wrong?

• A police officer may face the decision to take a life to save others.
• A transplant surgery team may have to decide between two patients who gets a vital organ and who dies; if all other things being equal.
• A judge may be sentencing an innocent person because the evidence of the day proves guilt, or crucial evidence is suppressed due to a legal technicality.

Man’s constant groping of things unknown, drawing from the endless reaches of time, brings to light many startling things. Startling because they seem new…sudden…but most are not new to the signs of the ages. A life…is begun! People…all going somewhere. All with their own thoughts, their own ideas. All with their own personalities. One is wrong because he does right…one is right because he does wrong.

We each have a sense of what is mean to lead better lives. Surely, this is what we all Think, Hope, or Strive to do. That being said, take these perspectives into consideration next time you presume to know what is definitively “right” or “wrong”. If anything has been shown over time, it’s that there are always two sides to the story, and one person’s “ideal” or “the right thing to do” may be another’s NIGHTMARE!

By: Iyo_Embong 2012©Copyright. Any distribution, reproduction or copying of any part of this article is forbidden. If you wish to use this article please only use the first 2-3 lines as an excerpt and link back directly to the article along with the Authors name.