Thursday, June 19, 2008

"The difference between right or wrong?"

Sometime ago I had an argument about moral values, I've been meaning to write this entry for a long time and here it is:

Okay it all started with the half bottle of vodka and dad insisted on declaring it and paying duty tax on the bottle at the customs. I was the one who objected it. It's not a damn crime, it's a half-drunk bottle of liqueur from a family member! And it was given free on good intentions and out of the blue you want to go find trouble and declare a half-drunk bottle of liqueur at the customs and pay a hefty sum for it for nothing.

There was like a mere 2 glasses of Vodka left in the bottle. In the end, the customs officer just let it go for free and I felt like an idiot for going in to declare something like that in the first place.

So begun our debate of the "The difference between right or wrong?"

One example is such a scenario:

There's this criminal committing a grievous crime of threatening a hostage at knife-point and is in the act of stabbing the person. A cop sees it and shoots a criminal, killing him in the process. No I am not shielding any criminal activity of any sort.

At first glance it would seem that the cop is right in shooting the criminal, but when we take a step back and look at the scenario at another perspective, what gives him the right to take the life of the criminal? The cop may think he's doing right, and in the eyes of the public, he's right. He's most probably right. But is he really right?

Sometimes we have to do something wrong to do right. This scenario is very similar to the incident that happened not too long ago, a drunk man flew into rage and attacked two cops with a knife. The cop shot him on the spot and near point-blank range. The police commended the cop for his efforts, but our ever cynical public questioned him, wrote in forums. (Singaporeans are just too damn free to mind their own business) or is Singapore just too boring that one single bullet fired will make a woo-ha?

The public questioned the cop whether there could have been a less lethal way to taken down the man without taking his life. What would you have done had you been in the cops shoes? Would you be able to react? I bet most won't be able to. Our cynical society questioned and judged the officer who fired the shot. Could he have taken him down in another way? The cop's life was threatened in that split second!

Some of you may think the cop is right, some of you think the cop is wrong. So what is truly right or wrong? Don't you think the law is very flawed in the first place?

Or given another scenario:

A family of 3, the dad, the mom and the son. The dad comes home one day after one long hard day at work to feed his wife and son, he finds that the wife hasn't cooked anything for him and just for the son and just returned home after meeting with an insurance agent for a home policy. Lets say NONE of them has done anything WRONG. The wife went to get an insurance signed and the man offered to send her home.

The husband see this, flies into a rage and hits the wife, the young son seeing this, sides the mom and hits the dad in self-defense of the mom. The dad loses consciousness and subsequently dies in hospital, the mom goes crazy at the loss of her husband and the son bewilderedly loses the love of both his parents.

Who was wrong? From the way I see it, none of them were wrong! All of them acted upon love, the dad worked hard for the family instead of screwing other women, the mom looked after the family and son, and the son tried to protect his mom.

Okay, never mind, the above scenario was based on true events as well. Very sad. Sometimes life is stranger than fiction.

Or lets say in another scenario of a very impoverished family who sleeps hungry every night, the wife toils hard for meager pay in a sweat-shop factory, the dad toils in the field. The young son tries to steal bread from a shop and gets caught, the dad tries to get the son out and gets killed in the process. The mom loses everything.

I know everything I mentioned above has loopholes or faults at any perspective. I am sure you have a different view as well.

I am not citing with criminals or injustice, they deserve to be punished for their wrongs. Of course there are clear-cut wrongs.

But if you are question, my point is that there is really no right or wrong. Just a point in perspective, sometimes what may seem wrong to someone else, may actually be the best right to another person. Or what may seem right to someone, may seem sinful or wrong to another person.

Lets talk about minor sins. Bringing ONE pirated dvd across the border or watching ONE downloaded movie. Is that right or wrong? In the eyes of the law, it's wrong, but people still do it. You and I have all done it, it may seem insignificant, but everything has a price to it, whether it's right or wrong.

What about a girl dumping a guy? Or a guy dumping a girl? To their respective friends, both of them could be right, and both of them could be wrong, there are too many variables at play in the equation to make a complete or faultless judgment.

Who gives you the right to judge? Or who gives the right for a judge to judge? Or sentence someone to death?

After all we humans are flawed, and THE LAW IS WRITTEN BY HUMANS.

So then again, it's not wrong if you're not caught right? So if that's the case, you can say, if it's not wrong, then it's RIGHT!

But is that correct thinking? Then if the above statement is true, then if it's not right, then it's WRONG.

But what is truly right or wrong? I am sure there are many scenarios where people act out the best course of action with the least wrong. What may seem wrong to some one, may actually be right or the best course of action to another person.

There are also scenarios where it's right. BUT. It's also wrong. OR. It's wrong, BUT also right! Confusing isn't it? But it all boils down to individual perspective, morals and ideals.

There are too many scenarios and variables for me to list out. But you know what is wrong and what is right. Or do you? Your wrong could be someone else's right and vice-versa.

Maybe sometimes the decisions we make are to follow the path of the lesser evil. Sometimes both choices have rights and wrongs, it's up to you to choose the path with the lesser wrong, or is it just you?

Life is truly a paradox.

I made the mistake of opening my mouth, and that's how we got into that right or wrong argument, and all the points I brought up showed his flaws starkly that he couldn't deny. He lost. But did I win? I lost as well by winning...

Posted by MK at 4:18 PM