Are you RIGHT or WRONG ?

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Are you Right? Do you do things that you feel are absolutely right? or

Do you waver from your ‘ethics’, your doctrine of values, more specifically your MORALS?

But where does ‘instinct’ come from? it’s not like you were born a moral savant, rather just like all other facets of development, you evolve your morals as you grow up. From lying to your parents for having stolen 10 Rupees to buy candy to lying to your Significant other after a mere 20 years , just like our lies grow overtime, Morality evolves too.

Morality is indefinitely subjective. The reasons why people do certain things certain ways and other people completely disagree with those ways cannot be derived from a mere assessment of our morals. For all we know or rather all we don't know, the very person who you've shamed on social media for "dissent" did so for a wholly justifiable reason.

Whether you believe that

"Morality is the herd instinct in the individual" ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

or you preach that

"The death of dogma is the birth of morality" ~ Immanuel Kant

it's easy to simply crown right and wrong. In fact to decide right and wrong, to even fathom to understand what right and wrong is, you would have to live as every person that has ever lived or will live and then tell me what right and wrong is. Until then realize that your understanding of ethics and absolutist ideologies are worthless and incoherent.

Understand the pain and agony it takes to commit murder for example , yeah please do. if you have any cojones whatsoever. In fact, I challenge you to put yourself in the shoes of a 16-year-old,

Are you ready ?........

Now watch in dire pain and agony as your father abuses and mentally tears into your sisters, Imagine you hiding under your bed seeing blood everywhere. You hear sounds which you've never heard before, screams that ring in your ears days after. Respite!! you think to yourself, When the sun's haze dots the windows all you can see is red and not yellow when the moon gleams at the 11th hour you realize that this isn't tolerable anymore,you realize that you need to take action. So, you grab whatever you can and parry that abusive monster. Can you feel the agony, the pain, the anger?

This isn't some excerpt from a Stephen King Novel, This was the case for 3 sisters in Moscow, nope not during the dark ages, but rather the 27th of July 2018,

(Click here to read the case in detail)

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Remember, that I don’t want you to avenge some clouded misjudgment that you have, I don’t want you to go to sleep with a formulation of murder that not only misleads but rather might be foolish. Take this the right way. Nobody wants to incite hate or anger.

Back to our mumbo jumbo !!

What about the 29,063 cases of 'murder in self-defense' in India, some gruesome enough to make a grown man wet his pants.

(Click here to access the case files)

So, the question remains,

Are they all morally unsound? Or are their actions justified?

Is murder wrong in all cases or by some metric you found locked away in the depths of 'your' Tartarus (Brain) is it justifiable?

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If that Moscow incident got your stomach churning Here’s the nicer version of what I mean,

I want you to imagine you're sitting at home on a Sunday afternoon…relaxing…drinking some lemonade…maybe a little Netflix…you're laughing at something on the TV and all of a sudden someone rings the doorbell.

That's odd…you think to yourself…I'm not expecting anyone.

*Do you like how I'm telling this like I'm an author? Like it matters what the heck you're thinking when the person knocks at the door?*

Anyway, You answer the door and standing before you is a really scary looking gentleman wielding an ax of some sort. Something's off with this guy. You can't put your finger on exactly what it is…maybe its the dirt-caked clothes…maybe its the greasy long hair with unsightly split ends…but you get this vibe that the guy has taken a human life before. And if there was any doubt left inside of you…he removes it by saying:" Hey, tell me where your kids are…I want to kill them with this ax that I'm dragging around!"

Well, instantly your stomach drops because you realize you're faced with quite a dilemma. Not because some strange man wants to kill your kids with an ax, but because you pride yourself on being an honest person! Don't you? This man came to your door…he asked you nicely to tell him where your kids are…you're faced with a tough decision! You can tell the man where your kids are and risk him disemboweling them before your very eyes…or you can lie to him and be a dishonest person!

What do you do? This is a very difficult decision, isn't it? Well, if you're anything like me or the hundreds of people I've asked this question to…it's not difficult…no in fact it's a very easy decision…you tell the guy your kids are down the street, lock the door and call the cops. but then you've lied,but one lie can't kill anyone , infact in this situation it saved your kids.

However you've literally broken one of the longest standing virtues that your parents tried to inculcate in you every single day for the better part of 17 years, your parents warned you "A lie may take care of the present but can cost an entire future" or "Tell a lie once and your truths become questionable" just like our dear cardinal

"Lying is wrong…plain and simple…it would be better for the sun and moon to drop from heaven…for millions of people to die in agony than for one person to tell a single lie that harmed no one.” ~ Cardinal Newman

Now if this sounds a little emo from Cardinal Newman…you gotta admire the guys’ conviction, right?

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At the end of the day , By saying that the ends justify the means you can lie to save a life, In hindsight to say that the means matter too is perfectly reasonable. Before plunging yourself into moral absolutism, Try and widen your gaze, that very standard you set isn't greater than mine nor is mine, yours. The next time you're faced with an ethical dichotomy, understand what it means to the other person. This means you understand WHY he/she does what he/she does, WHAT the causation really is then decide if that one harmless 'candy' lie is worth it , or if there’s something more at stake.

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Credits: Stephen West,

Sources: The Guardian

NITI Aayog (Statistics)

New Yorker

The Washington Times

Kahnoon India