Ethics, Morality, and Human Rights

I think that one of the most frustrating topics nowadays is that of ethics and morals. Think about it. What does "ethics" mean? Well, it's living according to what one knows to be true. I guess it seems simple enough when you put it in those terms, but really, it's more complex.

Just think about the stupidity of debating ethics in today's world. Ok. Let's see... everyone has at least some concept of what right is and what wrong is, but not necessarily what actions are right or wrong. So, we sit down and talk about what it means to live according to your morals, but that's as far as anyone can get.

I've seen this first hand in my World Issues class. We did a unit on ethics, and I think it was a complete waste of time. We talked about the meaning, and then we were given some hypothetical situations to discern what we would do in. They were mostly like this-- "Your friend steals a 50 cent comb. What do you do?" Most of the people in my class said that they would just leave it because they valued their friendship more. The teacher replied to this by saying, "So, in some small way, you're saying stealing is right." This got almost everyone a little flustered, but we moved on. It soon moved to bigger, more expensive items, and pretty soon almost everyone was saying they would do something. But then the teacher reminded them that they had said it was ok to steal the comb. Now, this could be a really good thought-provoking conversation that could aid people in making decisions, but after it was all said and done, the teacher just stood up there and shrugged his shoulders as if to say "who knows what's right?"

This was so disheartening to me! No one feels like they can speak about right or wrong because they are afraid they'll infringe on someone's rights!!! We are a spineless people. We are content to sit back and enjoy life and let everyone else enjoy life, even if their form of "enjoyment" goes against everything that has been taught in the past.

Basically, my point about this whole thing is that ethics without a foundation is pointless. You see, people feel convictions, they feel like something isn't right, but they have nothing to base it on. They only have their feelings, and feelings never find a place in a court (unless they somehow could add that to the Constitution! and that would be scary). I guess what I'm kind of thinking here is that there is no truth outside of God. Leave God out of the equation, and the only thing you can ever be convicted about is your own emotions. THUS THERE IS NO STABILITY. I get so angry when I hear someone say "well, that's right for you, and this is right for me." NO!!! How can you label anything "right" if right and wrong is left up to the individual?!?

What our world needs is to let go of our silly need for comfort, our silly need to keep our little worlds in our little bubbles. The truth is, sooner or later, that bubble will burst. And then what will we have to say for ourselves??!?