Absolute morality, Absolute BS Alec Dupont Assignment 3

We like to think that in our society that we have clear cut rules for what we can and cannot do. You cannot kill. You cannot steal. We like to believe that these rules decide the character of other people; they allow us to pass judgement on those who break them. Yet we bend and break these rules as if they were as flimsy as paper. We allow caveats like cases of self-defense, and judge people not just on their actions, but the circumstances of their actions as well. Is a soldier who kills in a war as guilty of murder as a gangster who kills in a drive-bye? Is a starving man who steals a loaf of bread as guilty as thief who steals a work of art? In a world of absolute morality, yes. In the real world, no.

Our judgement of people as good or evil is based on their choices. we praise Gandhi to be a man of honesty and integrity, and condemn Hitler as a monster; one of the worst human of all time. Yet without and occupied India we would not know of Gandhi's  revolutionary non-violence, and without an impoverished and angry Germany, we would not know of Hitlers terrible atrocities. Had the opportunity not been shown for these men, would they be as renowned today? No. They would never have the opportunities to show their characters. There may be many in the world who are as evil minded as Hitler was, but without the opportunity to show it, these people will fade into history just as millions of others.

So it is not your inherent qualities that determine your ultimate character, but your choices. In the face of difficult circumstance, what will you do? as you swim in the murky waters of right and wrong, how will you choose to live your life? Just remember that, should the opportunity for you to act on a large scale arise, history will judge you as a fiend or a friend to humanity. So choose carefully.