Need For Ethics

We have listened a lot about ethics. Ethics is what guides us to speak the truth, ethics is to help someone in need or ethics is to keep and fulfill our promises. Everyone has a different opinion about ethics but no one is trying to understand WHY WE NEED ETHICS??? Why we should follow and practice it. People have an opinion about ethics without even knowing the necessity and importance of it. We can see many examples around us of people preaching what is ethics? Examples of ethics, some technical definitions of ethics, and a deep classification of ethics. People nowadays made ethics a colorful business by putting attractive terms and they are earning good revenue and fame from it.

 I have a different opinion about it. “I BELIEVE THAT ANYONE CAN BE ETHICAL IF HE/SHE LISTENS TO HIS/HER INNER CONSCIENCE”. We don’t need to purchase costly books or we don’t need to go to an ashram to understand ethics. We can do it on our own if we listen to what our soul says. Take an example of an ant, when an ant bites us, what is our first reaction. We generally kill it. This action of ours to kill an ant if it bites us can be accepted by many of us because we took revenge on it. Although it’s not ethical to kill insects we can consider it for a while. But what about those insects which we kill to prevent any danger??? We can never justify that. It is an unethical and immoral act to kill any living thing just to feel safe. So when we kill an insect to prevent danger, our inner conscience says we did wrong and at the same time we also feel happy that we have killed a danger from that insect. The question is why do we think that this whole earth belongs to our species and not any other species? Why can’t an insect move freely without any fear of getting crushed? “Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood.”We should understand the condition of insects instead of fear, if we think about it rationally we will find a solution that will be much better than killing an insect. We can put it aside if it comes in our away. Killing is not an option or at least not an ethical option. We need to understand from others’ perspectives as well to enhance our understanding of life. That is where the need for ethics comes into play.

We all are different. Every person in this world is unique. We are different in conditions we are living, struggles in life, financial conditions, our upbringing, body structures, mentality, behavior, and so on. So what is common in human beings? THE SOUL. Everyone has a pure soul. No one wants to be a criminal, terrorist, thief, rapist, and murderer. But the conditions made them do so. It will not be wrong if we say our society is also responsible for making an innocent criminal because of the injustice provided to him. The feeling of deprivation in the very poor section of society made most of them a criminal. The problem of criminalization can be easily solved if we keep aside our ego, false pride and start respecting every person and not his/her social status. This can only be done if we realize the importance of ethics in our life.

The necessity of ethics is not restricted to any particular group or section of society. The necessity of ethics is required in all groups, sections, caste, religion, every person of this world. Ethics is required from politicians, bureaucrats, government officers, private firm owners, shopkeepers to beggars or poor sections of society.

Everyone should learn basic ethics. Basic ethics includes the difference between right and wrong, why right is right, and why wrong is wrong? This is why we need education and a 100% literacy rate so that people can understand the difference between right and wrong. Government should make ethics a mandatory subject in schools and colleges.

Patience and ethics go hand in hand because patience gives a person time to think and when a person has time to think, He/She can differentiate between what is right and what is wrong and take their decision more wisely.

Abhishek Goyal