A Word on Morality
I've long ascribed to the belief that "your right to throw a punch ends where my nose begins." I believe pretty strongly in freedom of choice so long as it isn't to the detriment of others. In recent years, I've boiled down my moral code to: Don't Be a Dick.
Four words seems pretty simple, but there really is more to it. I started to realize that things like parking in one of my assigned spaces at home or pedestrians crossing against the light didn't annoy me so much because they were "against the rules" as because each little action like that taken without consideration for how it affects other people - and that is what actually gets to me about it.
Checking choices in the moment for possible repercussions is not always easy to do. It's certainly far simpler not to bother. And yet there can be so very much value in doing so.
If you think about it, the root of evil is a lack of empathy. I've argued before that there is no such thing as true/elemental evil, but rather evil that is a matter of perspective. And that ties in nicely. An act that is perceived as evil is rarely intended as such, but rather it is taken without consideration for how others view it. A perpetrator may see it as justice or self-benefiting, but it is evil by virtue of inflicting hardship on others.
It's not easy to keep in mind that every single person you see or speak with during the day is another living being experiencing their own full life. You may pass someone on a road in seconds once in your lifetime, your appearance in their life just as brief, but they still have hopes, worries, fears, family, friends and all like everyone else. Acknowledging and embracing that, even if only for a moment, can take deliberate effort. If you can do that: can see other people as people and not just background, then it should be easier to realize how trivial actions can snowball. If you can feel empathy for others, it becomes harder to do harm to them, to be evil. And that, I think, is a net positive thing for the world.
So, what I'm saying is, don't be a dick.
Four words seems pretty simple, but there really is more to it. I started to realize that things like parking in one of my assigned spaces at home or pedestrians crossing against the light didn't annoy me so much because they were "against the rules" as because each little action like that taken without consideration for how it affects other people - and that is what actually gets to me about it.
Checking choices in the moment for possible repercussions is not always easy to do. It's certainly far simpler not to bother. And yet there can be so very much value in doing so.
If you think about it, the root of evil is a lack of empathy. I've argued before that there is no such thing as true/elemental evil, but rather evil that is a matter of perspective. And that ties in nicely. An act that is perceived as evil is rarely intended as such, but rather it is taken without consideration for how others view it. A perpetrator may see it as justice or self-benefiting, but it is evil by virtue of inflicting hardship on others.
It's not easy to keep in mind that every single person you see or speak with during the day is another living being experiencing their own full life. You may pass someone on a road in seconds once in your lifetime, your appearance in their life just as brief, but they still have hopes, worries, fears, family, friends and all like everyone else. Acknowledging and embracing that, even if only for a moment, can take deliberate effort. If you can do that: can see other people as people and not just background, then it should be easier to realize how trivial actions can snowball. If you can feel empathy for others, it becomes harder to do harm to them, to be evil. And that, I think, is a net positive thing for the world.
So, what I'm saying is, don't be a dick.
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