My Attempt in Living Morally

John Greavu My Attempt in Living Morally If life had a rulebook, it would be written by the Ancient Greeks. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle built the foundation of how every human being “should” live. Making decisions based off what is believed to be right or wrong affects almost countless moments in each day for us humans. Eventually, after much practice, making correct decisions would become near habitual. Can you imagine the world today if everyone strived to live ethically? Before you change the entire world though, you must start with yourself. The same guidelines written by those great thinkers thousands of years ago translate perfectly into modern living today. When I am faced with moral decisions, many self-imposed guidelines run through my mind. First, I try to take into account what the consequences are of each choice (if any). Doing this, I don’t forget that my actions may also affect others so I try to realize the impact of my decision on them as well. I like to put myself in the “shoes” of other people and try to see the world through their eyes. Although difficult, I understand that the right decision may have a temporarily negative consequence for me, such as losing a friendship. Basically, when given decisions like these I attempt to view all possible perspectives and determine what would be the best for everyone involved before acting. Almost exactly a year ago, I faced the toughest moral decision of my life. One of my best friends, Andrew, whom I’d known since I was five, along with his friend, had broken into a classmates’ house while he was gone and stole his laptop and Xbox along with a bunch of video games. Although I was not directly involved in this whatsoever, I was one of maybe three or less people who knew about the entire ordeal. At first, after being told the entire story multiple times by Andrew (and even after hearing him make jokes about it from time to time) I wasn’t really taken aback as I figured it wasn’t my problem and