What is wrong and right? You hear it all the time. People talk about doing the “right thing” or knowing the difference between right and wrong and yet if it is so cut and dry why do we not have a clearer guidance on knowing what is right and what is wrong.
I think a popular gauge is based on religious morality. People look to their church and religious belief system to help them identify the right or wrong paths. Unfortunately, this is just another shade of gray, not a clear answer and it only works for those firm believers in that one specific religion. For example if we have five religions based on five varying philosophies, then in essence we have five Gods, but since each of these five religions claim there is only one God, we know that cannot be true. It must hold true then, that at least four of those religions are wrong in some part and following their guidelines to the letter may not actually lead you to the righteous path.
In many cases right is different depending on the person and his or her situation. A starving person might believe it is just for him to steal fruit or bread to help feed himself and his family, whereas a well-fed person with no worries about where his next meal will come from might sit in his pew and judge all stealing to be equally wrong. What is right for a child, might be different than for an adult. Wrong in the sense of business ethics does not necessarily equal a wrong to a farmer. The rich and the poor might view right and wrong with different lenses and those of us without any religion at all will have to get our ethical belief system from somewhere else entirely.
What is wrong for one person might not be wrong for another. There are shades of gray as I’m fond of saying and to judge the actions of another person by any one set of standards is not fair. We all have to decide on a code to live by and that code must balance what is good for the many with what is right for the individual. I believe it is impossible to live a life in which no one ever gets hurt. The truth hurts sometimes, lies hurt, life is complicated and we are prone to failures and mistakes. Even the very best and wisest will live a life that at some point conflicts with the needs of someone else. So who is wrong and who is right?
To trust some religions is to injure other people. Is it okay to shun certain people because of their sexual orientation or cultural heritage? Is sex before marriage really wrong? Can something that is right for you, be wrong for someone else that you care about? I am so tired from all the accusations and finger pointing over right and wrong. We need to live our lives to the best of our abilities and “right” should be defined as that which does as little harm to others as possible. It is inevitable that at some point we will hurt another person, but to me the more valid argument is if the injury was inflicted purposefully or if the wronged party was just an unfortunate consequence.
I don’t want to judge you and I do not want to be judged. I just want to be able to live my life the way I need to for me and hopefully in a way that has limited collateral damage. What is right for you, may not be right for me. Please try to remember that I am human and I will make mistakes, but just like you I am doing my best to muddle through without causing you too much pain or destroying myself along the way. It is not easy, and I will make mistakes, but just as I cannot always be right, I cannot live my life for you and by your code. I can only be me and that’s going to have to be enough.
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