There is always that fine line between what we think is right or what we think is wrong. If anyone ever dare’s to deliberate on what would universally be accepted as right or wrong, we will have to go in to the messy world of stereotyping or being judgmental and condescending or a lot of other things that I will keep away from. However if we are to restrict right or wrong as what is set individually by a person for judging themselves or their actions (for doing or not doing something) we might be able to edge out the stereotyping issue.
The fact remains that even after the consuming task of deciding what is right for us to do and what is not. We still have the difficult task of how we go about doing it. The way I see it, it can be broken down in to:
A right way to do wrong
A wrong way to do right
A wrong way to do wrong
Clearly the first and last ones are pretty clear cut. They are simple and less debatable. Probably the right way to do right can be when you step up and apologize for a mistake you committed. It simply involves doing what one thinks is right through an exercise which doesn’t break commonly accepted norms. Now think of things that you consider wrong and then all ways you go about doing them can be the second scenario. Probably terrorism, rape, cheating are some instances which can be quoted in illustration.
Then follows the dicey issue of the middle scenario. The second one, i.e. is the wrong way to do right, is what is more commonly encountered hence more easily explained. All of us must have had moments when we know we bend the rules in order to control the outcome or to make sure that justice as we perceive prevails. These maybe our harmless little lies or vengeance. We know that we are breaking the code but we make ourselves feel better by rationalizing the fact that it is for the better and that our actions maintain equilibrium by balancing the unbalanced.
The one that astounds me is the right way to do wrong. I mean however hard I try I can not find an example for one person to believe something is wrong but then find a right approach to execute it. If after hours of thinking I come up with a case, however much I may have deliberated on it, I can’t go behind my conscience.
Socrates explained this by saying that no one can do a wrong deed if he is convinced it is wrong. This establishes that any action that is deemed wrong by the audience is thought right by the actor. Somewhere along the line we have drifted so far apart on what is commonly agreed as right or wrong that with every step taken reconciliation becomes a distant reality. Attempts to globalize may not have always been in the interests of creating unity in diversity. In trials to bridge differences, boundaries are unmarked, boundaries that maintained status quo over ages. Competition is cut throat, identity is challenged and acceptance becomes an issue. Irrespective of the various causes, the result is unanimous our differences become more pronounced.
Acceptance is an integral component of Appreciation. To be able to appreciate anything right, you have to be able to at least accept if not understand the existence of its negation. After that only will we be able to realize that both are sides to the same coin. As futile the exercise to burn one side of a coin with out burning the other; so is our attempts to overwrite what we consider right on what others consider wrong. To be able to accept and do our right, it is not just sufficient to surround ourselves with those who can reason like us but to be able to accept and understand those who do not. Wrong will live so long as right does. In our pursuit of the root of all wrong, I find this the most apt quote “We have met the enemy and he is us”
