What Makes a Decision “Right”?
Where do we turn when we are faced with ambiguous choices where the “right” path is unclear or will result in painful consequences? We must first look to our personal code of conduct, which consists of the morals and values we hold dear.
We always base these values on what we’ve seen and learned, whether at home, at school, or at work. After all, we are not born with an ethical code of conduct—no one in the delivery room gives us one! We must all learn how to behave ethically. Based on the sum of everything that has come before us in our lives—all the people, experiences, relationships, etc.—we accumulate a jumble of values and ethics over time.
that have contributed to the formation of our system of values. Regardless of whether the influences were cultural, political, religious, or ethnic, they have a significant impact on our individual growth.
We have acquired a wide range of perspectives, attitudes, values, and insights throughout our lives. We must adhere to that journey if it has had a positive influence. However, if our journey has been influenced in any negative way, we may need to examine our values to see if they are leading us in the right direction.
Sadly, not all of the people who have an impact on our lives steer us in the right direction. One time, I discovered a student cheating on the ethics course’s final exam. What does cheating on an ethics exam tell you? The student’s father was clearly upset when I showed him the student’s cheat sheet when they entered my office.
He yelled at his son for at least five minutes, “How dare you cheat? How dare you devalue your worth? His son finally screamed, “What’s the difference between me cheating on this test and you cheating on your income tax for the last five years?” as he felt emotionally pushed against the wall.
I think that values are learned, not taught; this means that people’s actions and choices speak much louder than what they say. Therefore, while we may have been taught the Golden Rule, which rule do you believe would have had a greater impact on our lives if our parents and teachers adhered more to the principle of “Every man for himself”?
Fortunately, if our values divert us from the right path to success, we are not compelled to live by them. We can choose the values we hold most dear. We are in charge of our own rules and values, and we need to create our own ethical code of conduct, which will serve as our guidebook for the best path to success.
How do we achieve that? We must first choose and embrace the ethics and values that we believe are necessary for the kind of life we want to lead. These ethics and values, in my opinion, ought to be based not only on what we have been taught by our parents, teachers, friends, and society, but also on the great ethical truths of the past—truths taught by religious and philosophical texts like the Magna Carta and the Constitution, for example.
When we begin with the great truths as our foundation, we can then examine our own experiences in light of these truths and develop our own personal ethics system, a code of conduct that will make us proud and assist us in always attempting to make the “right” choice.
