Why Be Ethical?

After looking through many of the topics on this website, listening to me speak, or asking me other questions you may be wondering why I am concerned with being ethical in the first place.  Out quite simply, I am interested in human happiness.  True happiness has something to do with moral choices.

Some people look to pleasures for happiness (sex, clubbing, etc.), others look to money (or possessions), others look at business success (importance or position in a company).  While these things are important, they never really bring happiness.

Some people say that it is ok to be unethical as long as it gets you what you want.  These same people tell you that the end result justifies the means.  So for them it is ok to cheat and lie as long as you get what you want.  This kind of attitude never really brings happiness either, it may bring you success, but with it may come guilt, shame, and embarrassment.

In our search for happiness, we must eventually deal with the struggle between good and evil.  We must be willing to serve others.  If there were no ethical choices to be made in the world, the world would not be worth living in, because the hurt in that kind of a world would be insurmountable.

Ethical choices allow us to help others, strive for virtue, earn what we have, and feel like we have accomplished great things.  Moral choices allow us to see that their is hope in a world of hurt, ethical choices may not get us as much money or fame as we might have otherwise, but they will give us peace of mind, dignity, and a clean conscience.  I would go so far as to say that until we deal with the struggle between good and evil we are not really living, and until we decide to do the good, we are not living well.

If you have any questions about this, or any comments, please feel free to send me an email and let me know.