People
December 25th, 2007 by adriantan-85I’m not a good person.
Neither am I a bad person.
I do not judge myself as someone who has fulfilled the requirements of morality. Neither am I a person who should be at any point vilified for some of the actions I may have chosen to take.
In other words, I’m not good, nor am I bad.
It takes a lot of a person to judge someone who is either one of those things. It takes a lot of character, a lot of experience, a lot of knowledge (not necessarily bookish-intelligence) and a lot of humanity to be able to judge.
Personally, people from all walks of life are equally different from one another… you can taunt me later about "’Equally Different’ is an oxymoron you nim-wit!"
More importantly, that fact is enough to show to us that we are not the same in terms of morality, personality, beliefs, or even taste.
It’s just different.
… I know, the word ’standard’ seems to be popping in your head a lot eh?
The thing here is, a lot of principles, arguments, guidelines, and even laws have been propagated again and again. Deemed to be ’standard’ or ‘universal’ and hereby ruling all sentients. The universal morality - accepted by all walks of life; unquestioned, accepted, and always being used as a guide-lining principle.
But I still fail to embrace that.
I still do not believe that you have the same standard principles as I do. Including very fundamental believes albeit life, death, creation, crime, punishment, and anarchism. Truthfully, if you ask enough questions, you’d realise that these fundamental values break into smaller fragments that in the end are the core values that differ from one person to another. Here’s an example:
"I believe in equal punishment to the crime committed. No more, no less."
—> following up this statement would be a string of questions to reemphasise or contradict this principle. From simpler, to more intrinsic details of the questions’ answers…
Do you think that a person who steals should pay back? Yes? No?
If paid back, is the robber free to go? Should he pay extra for punishment? Is paying back equivalent to punishment or is it just compensation to the worthy-for-compensation victim?
Do you think that a first time robber should be given a lenient sentence compared to a repeated offender? Yes? No?
If yes, then should that same principle apply for a person who has raped or murdered? Yes? No?
Do you believe that a life should be taken for a life? Yes? No?
Do you believe that a person who has raped should receive a similar experience? Yes? No? Then how would you ensure that the punishment is equivalent to the crime he committed? Does the punishment change according to how he did it? Does it change according to how well his behaviour was in jail?
… my questions have not finished but my guess is your principles have swayed from one far end to another just within that 1:43 minutes.
Can you ever get ONE principle that stands all these intrinsic questioning and scrutiny?
NO.
Therefore, we are all different.
We are therefore….
…. people.