Being Courageous is Contagious

I would not consider myself to be the superwoman type swooping in to save the day, but I think that I have performed some acts in my life that have followed my moral absolutes. I have done many things in my life that I would consider to be in favor of my positive moral absolutes including talking to people about their problems, helping people out, being respectful to my elders and to other people around me, and maintaining a strong work ethic in school and in my internships. It is hard for me to think of a lot of specific instances but I receall one that I recently had to decide between using positive or negative moral absolutes. I was involved in a conflict with a friend. The conflict developed when the friend and I had differing views of a particular situation, which then caused a disagreement. I was angry about the situation at first becasue I often try to avoid disagreements my any means possible. This person, however, left me very little choice and I ended up being shocked and hurt that someone would let our differences push them to cutting me down. At first I was hurt by the attack, but after giving the topic some thought I have decided that it would be much better to let my anger go and pick up where I was before the fight. Granted the person may still be upset but at least I am no longer losing sleep over it and I will be here when the person is ready to put their anger aside.  Another example of me using my moral absolutes is when I am dealing with school and my studies. Sometimes I am not in the mood to do school work, especially when I have a major test or project. My responsibility and work ethic kick in however and persuade me to get my work done. All in all I try to live responsibly and without regret as my parents raised me to be. I have not had any complaints from them so far so I think I am abiding by all of those moral absolutes and avoiding the negative ones.

Morally Appealing

When Bugeja discusses principles he refers to principles that I have personally heard an innumerable amount of times in my life. Principles that are drilled into us at the elementary school level such as treating people equally, being honest, being accountable, tolerating ideas different from our own, caring about others, respecting others,  every person’s rights to free speech and having a strong work ethic. I am sure the list goes on but these are just a few of the main principles that Bugeja touches on in the text. I still hear about or experience these principles first hand on a daily basis. I do feel that they are all important to maintain peace and unity in a work environment as well as at home. In my own life I believe that it is a moral absolute to be a determined and hard working person. I feel extreme guilt when I fail to get work done or when I do poorly in school. Another moral absolute that I have struggled with is learning not to hold grudges against people that have wronged me. It is easy to be angry at someone who has hurt you or made you upset but it takes alot more to let it go and forgive them. I feel like letting things go is very important. I think it is also important to always be truthful because you never know when a lie could come back and bite you on the ass. As long as you are truthful you should have nothing to worry about. Examples of moral absolutes that I feel are wrong are discriminatory behavior, lying, people mistreating other people and causing harm to animals. I know that as human we are going to have our differences but I believe that it is a test of our moral fibers as to how we handle those differences. I think the ethically responsble person will rise against a challenge of personal ideals yet maintain respect and compsure for the opposition. I often see people bashing others and starting arguments over matters of opinion or belief. I think it is necessary that we learn to embrace eachother’s differences. Another important absolute is never harming animals. I believe that animals are entitled to respect and to remain unharmed by humans. This is something that I feel very strongly about. I know that I could go on and on about moral rights and wrongs but these are just a few that I feel strongly about. I think a person’s moral absolutes are based on their personal experiences and upbringing. I know that my parents stressed that I show a great deal of respect towards them and other people and that I always give one hundred percent in all of my endeavors. This is something that I have carried with me to this day.

Technological Zombie

Technology has blessed us with the ability to talk to anyone at anytime, conduct business, and do numerous other things without leaving the comfort of our homes or ever having to confront people face-to-face. I often think about what people actually did before all of this technology. I cannot imagine not having a cellphone on me and not being able to talk to anyone whenever I please. It also also hard to imagine writing letters instead of sending a quick email, or having to confront someone face-to-face to find out information. In a way technology has made us lazy and dependent. We are zombies who no longer need emotion  or human contact. We communicate by blindly typing away on our phone or computers. On Wednesday when we were talking about people having relationships via the internet this creeped me out. Have we gone too far with our dependency on technology? Is it so bad that we actually have to have relationships on the internet without ever actually seeing the person? Technology is almost like a drug addiction. We love it because it makes life easy and makes us feel good, but if we have to be separated from it then it is almost impossible to fucntion.  I think that we need to incorporate good old-fashioned communication back into our lives so that we do not lose all touch with reality. Technology has made us numb to the importance of emotion and human contact. However, we are in a hole because we have immersed ourselves so far into this technological world that people’s lives are in chaos without it. I say we just try to meet people face-to-face every once in a while and avoid investing all emotion and time into technology.

Ethically puzzled

What exactly is ethical behavior? Last week when we were having our class discussion this question was one of the questions that stumped me for a while. After a while in deep thought it occured to me that it is impossible to be able to define something as being absolutely ethical or not ethical. However, our ethics are governed by our environment and the people that surround us. Society has set up a sort of code of ethics in order to ensure that people are on the same page about what is accepatable behavior. We have laws and court systems which define and judge ethics by established standards. We are expected to abide by society’s ethical guidelines so that we can have a sort of order. Of course everyone has their own set of ethics depending on their background and surroundings, but there is a certain amount of ethical behavior that has to be learned from society and implemented by citizrens in order to maintain a balance. If everyone just went by their own ethical codes then the world would probably be a very chaotic and scary place. I think that it is a good thing for individuals to etablish their own ethical rules, but it is important that they balance these with the ethical rules of their environment. It is unethical do something that will negatively impact others. If I believe that it is okay to misquote people but the publication that I work for says it is not ethical, then I should go by the newspaper’s standards in order to maintain that ethical balance. In this case my unethical behavior would negatively impact others because it is giving all of those who read my article an inaccuarate account of something. I think ethical behavior varies from person to person but should be behavior that is intended to have a positive outcome. But then again everything I have just said could have an argument against it.

Trigger This

Bugeja talks about how certain words can trigger certain emotions in people. Trigger words differ over time  and depend on current events and/or personal views. These are words that spark debate and are significant in people’s lives . Trigger words vary from person to person and can result in positive or negative images when they are heard. When I think about my own trigger words the first ones that come to mind are words that are in popular culture and current events. Proper nouns such as Britney Spears, George Bush, Hillary Clinton, Obama, Georgia Hiker and Iraq are words that often turn into discussions or get the wheels turning in my head. I read the news alot and these people/places are top figures in the news at this point in time. My trigger words change from time to time depending on the major events in the news or things occuring in my life. The Georgia hiker who was kindnapped is a big story at this point in time and therefore is a new trigger word that I have acquired. The close proximity of the story is another reason that I think this story is more ingrained in my mind. Political figures are also central in my mind because of news about  presidental candidates. Some of these words are positive and are some are negative. When I hear Obama it sparks more positive feelings in me than when I hear George Bush. As for Britney Spears, I feel a pity yet I am surprised by all of the crazy news I hear. Words such as Iraq have long been ingrained in my mind because it continues to be a major topic in the news. While the news influences a large portion of my trigger words I have other words that are influenced by different aspects of my life. Religion is a trigger words that makes me cringe. It gets my mind working, but I am very reluctant to talk religion with just any person. It is not that I lack religion or am against it, but I do not like to get into heated debates with people and I do not like to be told what I should believe. I think the journlist in me wants to remain neutral in the eyes of others. As a journalist I think I would handle these terms in a very neutral way as well. I would not really take sides but I would report on both sides, as an ethical journalist should do. Although a majority of my trigger words are centered on the news and things I read some of them are just things in my life that I like to talk about. I grew up watching the Andy Griffith show because of my dad. Every time I hear that name it reminds me of my father and then I get started on how much I love that show (and my dad). I watch the show alot and therefore I think about it alot. I am sure that when that show came out it was probably a trigger word in many households.  Other words that trigger immediate thoughts are Disney World and Chick-Fil-A. Those are two places that I love and think about on a regular basis.  MyTrigger words fit in all different catergories and elicit many different reactions from me.

Familial Wisdom

Throughout childhood I recall different members of my family giving me advice in the form of mottoes or sayings. As much as I despised being told “What you put into it is what you get out of it” or “What goes around comes around” sayings such as these are forever burned into my mind. Even though these phrases are overly used I believe that they hold true to my life and to other people as well.  Bugeja talks about how family and relationships can strongly influence a person’s ethical values and social mores.  In fact, every time my grandmother tells me something about my family she says “Blood is thicker than water”. These quotations being repeated over and over have helped me to form my outlook on life and the approaches I take when dealing with others.  Above all else I value my family. I am always eager to visit family and I would gladly take family time over time with friends.  My favorite saying is from my dad, a former boy scout, who always says “be prepared.” Even though these mottoes have been overly used in my family I can’t help be repeat them to myself or others whenever I am dealing with a situation. When I discussed some of my mother’s frequent sayings with her she said that she learned them from her mother when she was growing up. Grandmother often said “come hell or high water” or “walk the talk”. These are things that my mother often heard during her childhood. They are also things that she carried with her and passed on to me and my brother. They have largely defined me throughout my life and shaped the kind of person that I have become. I am always trying to give all of my endeavors one hundred percent . All of the people that I look up to in life are the people that have helped mold me into who I am today. As funny as their sayings are they hold alot of truth for me in my life. I feel pangs of guilt whenever I am not living according to my parents’ standards. I always try to “do the right thing ” and “remember that truth will prevail”. Whenever I am faced with a difficult decision I am remined of thr previous sayings. I have been coached that always telling the truth and doing the honorable thing, now matter how painful, will be more beneficial   In fact my heritage comes into play when defining my ethical values. My Scottish background means that I have spent alot of time listening to family history and my clan’s story. My family’s clan even has a saying that I  apply to my life. “Loch Moigh” is the battle cry of the McIntosh clan. It is translated as “Touch not the cat bot a glove”. In even more simple terms it is a warning to those who mean my fellow clan members (family and friends) harm. Since my family has made me who I am today I am always ready to stand up for what is right. My positive role models have shaped me into, what I hope is, a fair and conscientious human being. I cannot imagine having negative feelings toward my family. I think I would be a different person if my family was not so loving or had a more negative outlook on life.  My ethical background is strongly rooted in positive family sayings.

Staying Ethically Aware

In the Living Ethics introduction Bugeja argues that the invention of new technology has forever changed the face of the media and the way the people approach jobs and relationships.  While e-mail may make a task far easier than calling a person and making the effort to set up an appointment,  e-mail is devoid of any emotion and does not allow for a true personal connection. Bugeja argues that when we lose touch with personal connections, such as reading facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice, we are opening ourselves up for unethical behavoir. This is a strong argument that I have witnessed in my daily life. Almost every day I see People walking through crowds or driving cars with iPod and phone pieces shoved into their ears too busy to notice their surroundings or even care about the outside world. We always look for the easy way out and become angry when things are not served to us on a silver platter. We have lost touch with the things that are not acessible with the click of a button. This unwillingness to think outside the box has stunted our ethical growth because we have done away with personal interactions.  Without these interactions we become desensitized to people and their views and differences, which can lead to misunderstandings. I think Bugeja’s text will provide methods for staying ethically aware in a technology dependent world. Perhaps by being aware of the important role that personal interaction plays in daily life people can keep in touch with their ethical sides.