Ethical and moral decisions, at first, seem like a no
brainer – that they are something we all understand and recognize as
important. However, this course has
shown me that ethical and moral decisions are not always easy answers. This is what tests our moral reasoning and
our actions. There are several questions
that were posed throughout the course that really hit me and had me thinking
and asking a lot more questions than others.
There were many times I questioned my own actions and wondered whether
or not I had been doing the right thing or not.
When we began this course, we were posed with the question
of what decision do we make when none seem attractive? This was very relevant to me at the time because
I had just put my little kitty, Abigail, down.
She was my shining light everyday and was a part of my life for so
long. When thinking about whether or not
it was my choice to end her life, was a very difficult challenge for me. This was the first time I was faced with a
thought I did not want to think about. I
did not want to question my decisions because I knew I wouldn’t be able to take
them back. So when posed with the question
of what decision do you make when none are appealing, I learned that you make
the decision that is in the best interest of those around you myself
included. While I wanted my cat to stay
with me, it hurt more to look at her in pain.
While she wanted to keep me happy, she knew we were just prolonging the
inevitable. I’d like to think that she
somehow knows I was putting her first when making this decision, but I will
never know. In these instances, it is
best to go forward with your feelings and beliefs that help comfort you and to
recognize the rational implications to your decision. I miss her everyday, but the pain of not
having her with me is slowly becoming more bearable, especially knowing I could
at least make her last few days happier than if I had prolonged it and she was
unable to be herself.
Another topic that was something that I developed and
learned in this course is to recognize that ethics and morals can be understood
differently through different eyes.
People come from all different walks of life and are exposed to
drastically different circumstances in life.
How we perceive morals and ethics is going to naturally vary from person
to person. In some ways, it is not
necessarily the action we should be judging so hard but the implications of
that action. An example one of the
students in the class gave during the discussion posting was about a woman in
another country offering to sell a baby to him.
This sounds crazy, but to them, it may be their way of life and
everything they are doing in completely in the circle of normalcy for them. Recognizing that people approach things
differently is important to understanding how to gauge ethical and moral
codes.
One of the
last discussions we had was on animal rights as well as world hunger. This is a topic that has always been one of
interest to me. My whole life I have had
a desire to do more, yet I consistently sit by waiting for the “right time” to
swing by. With animal rights, there are
so many different areas where we can make an impact in. While some may seem drastic to many people,
the changes can be mild over time. I
come from a southern, meat eating family and I am an a vegetarian. With exposure and resources to the right
kinds of thought provoking material, educating others has been a huge
help. Many people do not realize how
disconnected we have come with food, and I think most people would be ok with
making small changes in their lives.
World hunger is another issue that has had me really reflecting on my
daily life and myself. I waste so much
food and so much stuff. In fact, we are
currently trying to downsize our house and I realize just how much stuff I have
that I don’t need! When thinking back to “Ben’s 13 Virtues”, I really found
areas in my life where I could work on developing and growing further. This has actually helped me a lot. I work in retail, so I naturally get a need
to buy things without reason.
Confronting my problems while reminding myself of the outside world, has
helped me look beyond my own personal desires, but still understand that a
little bit of egoism is not terrible if used in a correct way.
We all try to better ourselves on a daily basis, but it can
sometimes be easy to forget our self-improvement plan during the “daily grind”
of life. This course has taught me that
establishing and strong understanding of our own actions and why we are taking
those actions can really help to understand our moral and ethical beliefs.
No comments:
Post a Comment