We make decisions every day. Some of our choices are practical decisions about what will work best, look prettier, what’s cheaper, sounds clearer, or lasts longer. Those decisions don’t necessarily involve right or wrong; they involve efficiency, availability, or just preference. For those types of decisions, you can make a pros and cons list for each one, select the best options and there you have it – a real decision. But, on the other hand, many of our choices are about doing the right thing no matter the consequences or repercussions. Each of these choices involves many messages whirling around through your mind. In less than a minute, our minds review the facts, study the consequences, compare the two controversial options, consider what others may think, and then gives the signal to go ahead and make the decision right immediately. Since decisions happen so quickly and there is not much time to prepare, you could make the wrong choice and live with the consequences for the rest of your life. A code of ethics could help determine the path our lives shall follow. The article “Cultivating Humanity and World Citizenship” by Martha Nussbaum has a theory that is the best, the most useful, and the most sensible.
What is ethics you say? Ethics is a set of standards that tells us how we should behave. No person with strong character lives without a code of ethics. Ethics is more than going what you must do; it is doing what you “SHOULD” do. Ethics requires self control. Ethics involves seeing the difference between right and wrong. From now on, ask yourself if you are willing to pay the price for making an unethical choice. Are you willing to sacrifice your pride, integrity, reputation,