La Fin

Shalom!  Ciao!  Adeus!

This is the final post, the one in which I bid you all Adieu.

It has been quite the journey, researching and writing for you all.  I've enjoyed it all and even grown as a person throughout the semester.  Above all, I would like to thank you all for your kind words of encouragement and for your participation with commenting!

I would also like to thank my cats, Big Kitty and Little Kitty, for keeping me company throughout all
 the late nights I've spent composing this blog.  Yes, the pictures are necessary.

Little Kitty

Big Kitty

Throughout the semester, we've been all over the map with these last 10 posts.  The adventure began in the deep rain forest of New Guinea, then we arrived back in modern society and into the classroom, then shortly after to the dog house and then even to the church and to the bank.  We've seen some heavier topics and some lighter more cheery ones.  

All in all, I hope that from reading my posts you've all been thought provoked by my opinions.  Through researching and reflecting upon these topics throughout the composition of this blog, I've spent a great amount of time deep in conflicted thought about morality.  All in all, I feel as though I've ameliorated myself as a person and I surely hope you have as well through reading my posts.  

Just because this is goodbye doesn't mean that you no longer need to question society or morality.  I'm not saying that you should question every action of society, but you should more over reflect upon your own values and ideas and definitely live by them.  Don't fall into other people's (my) ideas of what is right and wrong.  If it is what you believe in, then you don't need to explain yourself to anyone. 

Again, thank you all for reading and participating by sharing your ideas and opinions.

Never stop questioning.

The ABSOLUTE

"Compassion is the basis of morality."

-Arthur Schopenhauer

Throughout course of my philosophy class this semester, we talked a lot about morals.  We ventured into the depths of right and wrong and where these "perceptions" we have come from.  The one thing that still resonates with me, sometimes in an irritating way, is this thing called moral absolutism.  It is this complicated concept, by which all judgements are based upon an absolute standard of morals in any given circumstance (1).  Basically, rather than the fine line between right and wrong, its more of the galaxy which separates the universe of right and the universe of wrong.  If something or someone were to exist one of those two given universes, they could never and would never exist in the other.  It's the idea that anything we consider to be "wrong" or "evil" completely over powers anything good, as if someone who has ever done anything "wrong" is completely incapable of even having a single good thought or intention.

For example, we did this activity in class where we had to choose who we would want as our world leader, based on how they live their lives and wether or not their lives would fit with our morals.  We were given three candidates:

A)  This potential leader is confined to a wheelchair and has numerous affairs outside of his marriage.  He also smokes and drinks excessively.

B)  Candidate B is a decorated war hero.  He is vegetarian, practices abstinence, doesn't smoke and rarely drinks.

C)  The last candidate enjoys an occasional drink during the evenings, has experimented with drugs in college and often sleeps in until noon.

Now who did you choose?  The funny thing is, these are actual world leaders.  For those of you who chose A, you picked Franklin Rooselvelt.  Candidate B is Adolph Hitler and finally, candidate C is Winston Churchill.  Interesting, eh?  Perhaps even upsetting?

What upsets me about this exercise is how bothered people are when they learn who the real leaders are.  Oh, the humility! To think that Hitler could ever possess a single ounce of decency within him after all he's done!  Well of course he can!  He's human!  We, as humans have a choice; we can either let the good within us over power, or let the bad take over for reasons we regard as justifiable.

"Yea, but Martin Luther King cheated on his wife..."

Stuff like that, stuff people say, that is completely irrelevant to the tremendous accomplishments of many people disappoints me.  What does it matter that MLK cheated on his wife?  Does that completely cancel out anything he's ever done in regards to racial movements?  I strongly don't believe it does.

This is why we need to stop judging based on these ABSOLUTE moral standards.  No one is perfect.  There are two sides to every story and you have the power to let the better side be exposed.  There are exceptions.

What do you think?


(1) http://www.gotquestions.org/moral-absolutism.html