Ethics: Making the right decisions
Sometime ago, when I was a PRN chaplain for one of our major medical centers, I noticed that the hospital had actually hired someone to be in charge of ethics. Frankly, that amazed me, for I had always assumed that ethics was very simple. All you had to do was to know right from wrong and to do the right thing. Obviously, my conception of ethics was too small.
My dictionary defines ethics as, “The study of the general nature of morals and of the specific moral choices to be made by the individual in his relationship with others.” It then enlarges its definition by saying, “The rules or standards governing the conduct of the members of a profession.” The International Conference of Police Chaplains defines ethics as, “The code of behavior that enables people to make moral judgments about difficult situations.”
Those of us reared through the old Puritan code of morality (although we didn’t know it then) learned our morality, our sense of right and wrong, through the discipline of our parents, often at the end of a small tree switch around our bare legs. But morality is much more. Today, morality may better be defined as “a system of principles and judgments based on cultural, religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs by which humans determine whether given actions are right or wrong.” Obviously, these actions may also be generalized and codified by a culture or group, and thus serve to regulate the behavior of its members.
Over simplified, ethics has to do with making the right decisions in relationship to our personal goals and to our relationship with others. It is obvious that our ethics are shaped by the environment we grew up in, but it would appear that there is a broader ethical bond that unites the entire human race. Some cultures may teach it is OK to steal, but it is difficult to find any that suggest it is OK to kill another human being. Fair play and mutual respect also appear to be a part of ethics.
I remember one episode of “Walker, Texas Ranger” (Walker played by Chuck Norris who could beat the daylights out of just about anyone) where Ranger Walker took some young men brought up in a poor neighborhood on a trip to teach them how to behave. It was difficult, but in the end, the young men learned that most of life is in learning how to make the right choices.
Making the right choices also is relevant to most people growing up. Many times, someone will ask a high school graduate entering college what they want to do with their life. Too many times, the answer is simply, “I don’t know right now. I’ll just make that decision later on.” That sounds like a decent answer, but it hides a deeper meaning. It may suggest that the young man or woman was never challenged at home to accept responsibility and to learn how to make good decisions. It may also suggest that too many people go off to college to have fun and to goof around instead of learning anything significant, but goofing off and having fun may turn out to be a life-changing decision if he or she graduates from college with a degree that does not produce a profession or job.
It is very easy for people today to get caught up in the ideas and philosophies that appeal to them because they “feel good,” while not relying upon morality or standards to
guide them into the paths of righteousness. Too many of the people I meet today are so busy finding fault with others and blaming them and our country’s laws that they never get around to establishing an identity that allows them to function happily and peacefully in today’s culture. The worst of these people end up being terrorists; the best end up making trouble wherever they are.
It becomes supremely important then for all people (and businesses) to develop a system of morality that allows them to live ethically. I remember the story in the Old Testament about the Tower of Babel where God confused mankind by creating many different languages, but I suspect there is a deeper perception to that story. Perhaps no one was able to live peacefully with anyone else and no code of ethics had been established. Dividing the people through their language allowed for the clear distinction between the cultures and encouraged a way for living with people who were different.
It would be nice if everyone had the same code of ethics today, but since that certainly is not the situation, maybe it would just be nice if everyone learned how to respect each other’s ethics and not just assume that theirs is both the right one and the best one. •••
Robert Box has been a law enforcement chaplain for 29 years. He is a master-level chaplain with the International Conference of Police Chaplains and is an endorsed chaplain with the American Baptist Churches USA. He also currently serves as a deputy sheriff chaplain for the Benton County Sheriff ’s Office. Opinions expressed in the article are the opinions of the author and not the agencies he serves.