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| Ron Daniel |
"When is wrong really wrong and right really right?"
Ron Daniel
The caption above is a philosophical question that probably has no correct answer. Nevertheless it is a question I am forced to ask myself repeatedly as I go through life. I can take many slants to this article and probably give some quotes from some famous philosophers to justify my argument but I have chosen to go the simpler route and simply share some scenarios with you my readers that forced me to ask the question in the caption above ever so often. It is my wish that at the end of the article we can all resolve to be a little more objective in our view as to what is right and wrong as well as what is the right or wrong way to go about saying things.
We in Nevis pride ourselves to be a largely religious country and we hold very high morals. We expect each other to be crime free, obey the commandments that speak to lying, murder, stealing etc. We expect the youths to behave well and that all the young girls and boys will be more vigilant when it comes to sex. All of that is very praiseworthy and should be encouraged.
The problem I have is that if we hear that Janet is pregnant, we are quick to have a good laugh about it and jump on the phone and tell tut, mum, sam and baggai and even turn up our nose when we see this pregnant girl. We say that it is wrong for her to be pregnant and that her mother spoiled her and that is why Janet is like that. The funny thing is that if the shoe is on the other foot and one's daughter becomes pregnant then you don't want anybody to laugh at you or spread the news and you don't want anyone to turn up their noses at your daughter and you certainly don't want anyone blaming you as the parent of the said child. I believe that we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us. If it is not right for them to speak about your daughter then it certainly cannot be right for you to speak about another person's daughter like that.
The funny thing is that some of these same older folks who call down the people who get pregnant in their teens, also got pregnant in their teens too. However you would hear them explain somehow they were not as bad as the present generation because the present generation either had more knowledge of how to prevent pregnancy or something of the sort. I for one would like to think that if it is wrong for a teenager to get pregnant in 2006, it is equally wrong for a teenager to have been pregnant in 1976. As the good book says, in Matthew 7:5 "Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
A classical case of this moral paradox is during criminal cases. If John kills your son, you want John to be found guilty in a court of law and get the death penalty. However if your son kills John, then you go and get the most expensive lawyer, to either try to get your son acquitted of all charges or to see if he can get life imprisonment and not be hanged, simply because it is your one son that you love. When is wrong, wrong and when is right really right? The same applies if someone stole from you and the judge forces them to pay a hefty fine or go to jail you are glad but if your relative steals from someone and the judge comes down hard on them then you say the judge is unfair and could have used a little mercy? There are parents who would go through the trouble of either willfully destroying evidence or lying to the police to protect their child who would have committed a heinous crime but if another parent does that when the shoe is on the other foot then why is it that the same parent who would have knowingly withheld or distorted evidence be angry that some other parents did it?
The madness in the courthouse does not end there. If Jimmy breaks into a house and steals some money from Mrs. Jones then the jury would more than likely say that Jimmy is guilty because he had no right to steal from poor old Mrs. Jones. However if Jimmy steals from Rams, Four Seasons or TDC then some people on the same jury might say "that Rams and dem got money" and they wouldn't bring in Jimmy guilty for stealing from those big companies. We totally disregard the principle that stealing is always wrong the question begs itself, When is wrong, really wrong and right really right?
The issue of relationships is one where the question of when is wrong really wrong and right really right often comes up. It is wrong for a woman to be promiscuous but if a man has sex with Mary, Jane and Janet in the same night then he is a don. Sometimes it is that it is quite okay for you as the female to have male friends but the male cannot have female friends because you as the female don't trust these other women while the male should somehow trust all your male friends or vice versa.
The situations that present themselves are endless. This moral paradox can also be seen in politics, sports, in the work place et al. It is befuddling at best how so many people can justify their actions irrespective of how wrong it is while say that others who do the exact same thing are grossly wrong. I think we owe it to our present and future generations to be more objective about what is right and what is wrong. Only then will we will come closer to having some sort of order in Queen City Nevis. |
