Would you consider yourself a moral person? Are you someone who knows right from wrong? Personally, I would say that I am moral. I try my best to be compassionate and kind.
Hey, I even donate blood as often as I can to help others. In America’s society, those are things that would designate me as a “good” person.
Religion is another factor that defines how we may see ourselves. For example, in Christianity, your eternal fate — heaven or hell — is determined by your morals on Earth. But something a Christian, or even a non-religious person, might not think about is diet.
I eat beef. While this may seem trivial in the realm of American standards, it is not acceptable in Hindu society: killing cows is actually illegal in India.
As you can see, trying to be a moral or kind person is often not defined by only yourself. The authority figures in your life, and society as a whole, define your morals.
Considering all of these constraints, can you truly be a moral person and still fit into any society?
You should do things that make yourself a better person, such as being kind. This seems to be a fundamental tenet across all cultures and religions. However, even with a seemingly universal concept such as kindness, problems arise.
Kindness is a subjective idea, so it has duality. Getting into Boston University is a prime example of two-sided kindness. While you and your family are really happy that you got accepted into BU, another family is sad their child got denied.
BU has a finite number of spots available for students. If you were accepted, you could say the Admissions Office was kind because they did not reject you. While this is a rather binary view of college acceptance — several factors go into whether or not one is accepted — that’s really what it all boils down to. Did you get in or were you rejected?
This example is meant to show that even your acceptance and decision to attend BU can be an unknown act of cruelty. You are being cruel to someone who got rejected or waitlisted because you took their spot. Whether you know it or not, every action and decision you make has a consequence to others.
However, my goal is not for you to question every decision you have made in order to determine your morality. That would be impossible.
Fundamentally, there is no moral person across every society. No matter what decisions you make, you will be violating a principle of morality for someone else, somewhere across the world.
Even if you consider yourself a kind person, your decisions may not align with mine — despite the fact that I also think of myself as kind. That’s okay. This reality should not stop you from making decisions, but rather, you should become more aware of the consequences of your actions.
Being moral is more than simply agonizing over your decisions to determine if you are kind to everyone or not. Start determining your values and defining your own personal set of morals. It is hopeless and impossible to try and meet every moral standard on the planet, so start with your own.
