I want to share with you some of my thoughts regarding Ethics!
Photo from Unsplash
Question: Are clothes a matter of pure aesthetic taste or does it make sense for clothes to become a subject in a discussion of ethics? Why? How about other forms of adornment, such as tattoos and piercings?
Clothes is not just a matter of pure aesthetic taste; clothing concerns are wide and perception and convention about it varies across various people, places, and traditions. It does make sense for it to be a subject in a discussion of ethics as well as with the other forms of adornment like tattoos and piercings because these things mean more than ornamentation to others.
These issues are inclined to ethics because as to the countless rules and standards that people must bide upon today, we need further discourse or consideration on how some manifestations can be weighed as moral or immoral. There are government’s regulations or even an institution’s requirements regarding clothing and the like that we are obliged to follow but what if these provisions are against someone’s beliefs? Clothes and body adornments aren’t just a representation, it is a symbol of a person’s philosophy and belongingness. Therefore, yes, it should become a subject matter in ethics because it must be thoroughly understood and explained especially now that we have a widespread of standards of perfection, which builds a pathway to discrimination, and an unfair acceptance between people of different races, clothing statements, and body adornments.
STUDYING ON A MORAL DILEMMA
Scenario: I promised my father to buy him his dream bike on his birthday. I knew he wanted that bike for so long and I told him before that I’ll work hard for it and I will make his dream come true on his special day. But, on the day before his birthday, my best friend came to me crying and asking for help. She told me that her mother was rushed to the hospital last night and the doctor said she has to go into surgery right away. My best friend was asking me for money; I understand that there’s no one else she could run to and it is needed badly so that they could go on with the operation.
Elements that are present in the moral dilemma
- There are two contrasting options in the dilemma:
(1) to give the money I earned for my father’s gift to my best friend who urgently needs it for her mother’s operation or
(2) to refuse in helping my best friend financially.
- I can perform either of the two options.
- I am only allowed to choose one from the two options.
- Whatever decision I make; I am bound to hurt/disappoint either one of them. One of them has to sacrifice.
Photo from Unsplash
Resolving the dilemma:
1. I identify the given situation as a dilemma because of the conflicts arising between the first person, her father, and her best friend. Either way, someone will have to sacrifice.
2. I am always willing to help anyone who’s in need, regardless if he/she is close to me or not as it is one of my beliefs that nobody was meant to be an island and that I can make my life meaningful by lending a hand to anybody who needs it. I am also down in giving everything that my family needs and desires. It’s not that I feel obligated in giving back what they’ve done to me but it’s my dream to make their lives comfortable.
3. If I get to go with the option of declining my best friend’s request to borrow the money and continue with buying my father’s special gift, I would certainly make my father happy but it would cause such suffering to my best friend, and might make her mother’s condition worse as it would take much time for her to look for money. I could offer some other kind of help that might lessen her burden but maybe it won’t be assured that her mother will get into surgery and will have a greater chance as compared to if I help her with the needed finances right away.
On the other hand, if I choose to give my money to my best friend, my father would be sad and disappointed, and might feel bad towards me right on his birthday. He would lose his trust on me and doubt how important he is to his daughter.
Having to weigh the circumstances and possible outcomes of the two options, the need of my best friend dominates than the want of my father to have is dream bike.
4. Being on the situation, I would choose giving the money to my best friend and will talk to my father about her mother’s condition. I know it will be hard for him to accept, but I also know that eventually, he’ll understand. I am accountable in giving my father a setback on his special day but I could work it out with him in making the day memorable regardless of his dream bike, which, in a matter of time, I could work hard for again. But, I can never take a next step if I’ll refuse to help my best friend, knowing that her mother’s life is at risk.
We make ethical choices in our everyday lives without even noticing it. It challenges how much we could hold onto our moral principles in big and small situations. It takes great perseverance of what we believe is good or bad and how we assess things after things to be able to stand firmly and be accountable in making a decision without having to deem a sense of guilt and doubt if it was really the right decision to make.
Getting the mind right after ethical decisions means you have to hold on a little harder for what you believe inside. Getting over with it doesn’t mean forgetting or turning a blind eye with the circumstances that may happen, but to move forward with greater lessons and having a more powerful perspective, moral values, and principle
