Gabrielle Cuebas
Dr. Chaffee HUP 104
December 10, 2008
My Moral Compass
In taking the Ethics and Moral Issues course I learned many valuable things.
Several ethical theories were discussed that enlightened my views about life. These
theories are excellent in developing one’s character if they are not sure how their life
should be lead. I can say that I have a good set of moral values that I use in my everyday
life, but learning these new theories definitely expanded my mind. I am more open to
others’ views of the world. It is always interesting to learn new things. Being open
minded to these new ideas helped me to develop a stronger set of values and encourages
me to think more critically about the decisions I make. I have a better system to make
decisions upon. This course also better developed my reasoning skills. Sometimes I was
not sure why I made decisions. Sometimes it would be because of what others have told
me, so I supposed that was the right thing to do or say. But now I clearly understand the
importance of being an individual and learning how to make important choices on my
own, for my life, based on my own values.
I think the theories that best apply to my life are virtue ethics, ethical egoism, and
existentialist ethics. Virtue ethics describes the importance of being a virtuous person
through the character that one builds. Living in a world of such madness, it is hard for
people to know whom they can turn to. I can say that I have built a great character. It was
not an easy task, but my past experiences definitely paved the way to who I am today.
While it is important for people to see that I am a good person with good intentions, the
only way that can be done is if I choose to be a good and virtuous person. Why is it
important to me to have a fine character, good behavior, and good values? It is important
to me because I would hope that people around me would want the same. If people
remain close-minded and think the world revolves around them, they would be outcasts. I
choose to surround myself with people with similar values as mine. My character consists
of being optimistic and determined. You can’t go through life thinking that nothing is
ever going to turn out right. You set yourself up for damnation that way.
There are many difficult things I face in my life. Being positive, and being around
supportive people, helps to reach my goals and be consistent in my behavior. Anyone can
do a good deed. But that does not mean that doing good things is part of who they are. I
make it a point to be kind to everyone around me, because most of the time, that behavior
is reciprocated. I do not believe that following society’s ways is the way we should live
our lives. Society does not build us. People build the society. Living in New York, for
example, sometimes forces people to adapt to the norm. That is a bad idea. In the ghetto,
poverty-stricken neighborhoods, all you may witness is violence, gang gatherings, drug
solicitation, and all sorts of negativity. I have witnessed those situations before. Everyone
living that lifestyle has a very negative outlook on life. They do not feel that they can get
anywhere past whey they currently are, they have no goals, and they feel that everyone
succeeding above them is out to destroy them. Sometimes I get jealous of people out
there that are doing better than I am in different things. But it makes me more determined
to be where they are, and reach higher. The most important thing is for people to
recognize that we all have the potential to do anything we want. Even if there are things
holding us back, they are always ways to overcome them, if we strive to do so. I inspire
friends of mine sometimes when I explain to them the importance of being determined to
succeed. I will never lie and say that life is easy. If we want things, we have to be willing
to do the hard work to get it.
The theory of ethical egoism is when one takes actions that will best benefit
themselves. In a way this may sound selfish. But being an egoist is not a bad thing as
long as what you do does not affect anyone around you in a negative way. I am certainly
not a selfish person, but I always put myself first. I cannot go on through my days
without being fulfilled. I always consider the consequences of my actions because I
wouldn’t want to harm others in a way that I couldn’t control. Even when I work in a
group I make sure that I am getting the most benefit out of it. Recently I did group work
with two of my classmates for my biology class. The assignment was to produce a digital
video from a topic out the textbook. Since it is group work, if one doesn’t do work, we all
fail. So my role, in my point of view, was the team leader. Sometimes I feel wrong being
a leader because I feel like the other feel like I am trying to control them. But I don’t feel
that way anymore. Being a leader is the best role anyone can play because I feel that I
encouraged my teammates to excel in their tasks of the project. When I am working with
people towards a common goal, I like to make sure that they are doing exceedingly well
so all of us can benefit from the task. It feels good to know that simple encouragement
makes people to do a whole lot better. I wanted to do my best on the project, and I
wanted my classmates to do their best. No selfishness in that. Another example of
egoism, though I haven’t experienced it, is when you and other people all want the same
thing, yet you are the one with most skills and experience to retrieve it. In this situation, I
might feel bad that the others will not be as advantaged as I am, but this is when I, and
others, must put ourselves first. A major reason why people give up on things in their
lives is because they don’t want others to feel bad if they are the only one to get it. I
would do whatever I can to get that “prize”, but at the same time I would encourage the
others to strive for what they are able to achieve with whatever skills and advantages they
may have. People can’t be discouraged if they can’t do something that others can. That’s
why you have to find something you are excellent at, and show it off.
Existentialist ethics is a very broad and interesting theory. The biggest theme of
this theory is individualism. I think this is the most important characteristic that anyone
can have. Being an individual is not just about being a single person. It is about thinking
for yourself and making your own critical decisions in order to have a meaningful life.
You can’t blame other people for what happens in your life. Sometimes I feel like
everyone around me is out to get me when I’m not doing well in school, work, family,
etc… The society that we live in makes it easy for us to blame everyone else because
there is no one to teach us the importance of being an individual. A major entity of how
people lose their individuality is through religion, or any kind of single-minded cult.
“God” is the authority to tell us what to do right and wrong. We can never question what
he/she demands from us. It is a divine right that people must obey. It is a sin to want to
succeed and want to better than the next person because everyone is equal. Who in world
made it a rule to be on the same level as everyone else? Now I’m not saying that there is
anything wrong with practicing any religion. But it does not mean that you absolutely
must create the person that you are based on what the rest of the world believes. With
every action there is a consequence. That means that everything you do is going to be
your own fault, in a good or bad way. I don’t believe in God so I am not going to blame
him/her for my actions. I believe in people. I can’t blame the media for all the sexist
behavior that occurs. People, men in this situation, decided for themselves that they are
superior to women. People are afraid to have different or opposing views to others, so to
stay on the safe side, they agree with what everyone else says. Where is the individuality
in that? We create our own destiny.
All of these theories apply to me in many ways. A difficult moral decision I am
facing right now is getting my education. For years I hated the idea of attending any kind
of school scenery. I hate writing essays and taking exams. I don’t much fancy studying.
Oddly enough, I am excellent in all these things. Writing has always been a great skill for
me, I’m usually a good test taker, and I have excellent studying skills. In high school and
my first year in college I was a big-time slacker. Everyone who knew me personally was
very disappointed in me because up until the ninth grade, I was a straight-A honors
student. What happened? That’s the problem, I don’t know! I mean besides getting mixed
in the wrong crowd freshman year in high school, I didn’t really understand the
underlying problem for my self-induced failure. I chose not to do all the important things
to get good grades. I skipped all my classes and never made an attempt to get back on
track. Last year, in 2007, I dropped out of college. That was the biggest mistake of my
life. I was doing so well until I dropped out halfway through the semester. I stupidly
decided I didn’t like my major, so I stopped attending. It was too late to withdraw, so
sadly I got four lovely F’s on my transcript. I tried blaming my decisions on the students I
had class with, my professors, the school, but the only person I can truly blame is myself.
I guess the true reason is that I am so afraid of failure, but at the same time I don’t have
enough courage to express my potential because I am afraid that my efforts will go
unnoticed.
At this point in my life, I have realized that life is not about impressing other
people. I was always so worried about being accepted by others. Not by silly peerpressure, but in the academic world. Everything I do is for myself. Failing college is not
going to get me anywhere in life. This semester, 2008, the same thing almost happened to
me. This time it wasn’t about the major I was taking, but only because of my fear of
failure. There was so much pressure that I felt I couldn’t handle. The minute that you feel
like there is too much pressure is when you need to force yourself not to give up. My
problem is that I give up on a lot of things very easily because I’m afraid of the hard
work I have to do to get things done. There have been times when I worked very hard and
achieved my goals and was so proud of myself. But I’m on a rollercoaster ride of
determination and fear. I am in the process of overcoming that fear, because in the future
I know that I am going to be so relieved that I did what I had to do and it is over with. In
this case, it’s school. As badly as I don’t want to go, I absolutely must. Not only because
our economy now requires employees to have certain degrees, but also because people
that are educated tend to receive more respect in the world than those that don’t. I don’t
really care what others think of me, but one thing I did realize is that I prefer being
around people that are educated. College is more than just an academic experience. There
are many insightful things to be learned in all sorts of subjects. College is a great pathway
to discovering who we are and what we like to do.
Taking this course has changed my views about a lot of things. But it especially
helped me reconsider my decisions of how I want to live my life. This is the only life that
I have to live and I am going to do it right. Every decision that I make is because I chose
to have a character of certain values. Everyone has his or her own destiny. From the first
moment that we are able to process our thoughts, until we die, we are responsible for
every decision we make. We are who we are because we create ourselves. Being an
individual is something we should be proud of. I enjoy expressing my individuality, as
should everyone else, because it will take away the fear of showing your true identity. I
place immense value on my life because I want to have a life with meaning. Others’
opinions of how I live my life are irrelevant unless it is constructive criticism. Everyone
should want to live a meaningful life. Whether or not we are remembered for it shouldn’t
matter because eventually we are going to be forgotten. The most important thing is that
we know as individuals that we strive to have meaningful lives, and we do whatever it
takes to get there.