Home › Opinion › Opinion
Character counts: Life needs principles
STORY TOOLS
More from Opinion
While I was on a radio call-in show talking about cheating, a listener I'll call Stan mocked my concern. He cheated to get into college, he said. He cheated in college to get a job. And now he occasionally cheats on his job to get ahead. In fact, he concluded, cheating is such an important life skill that parents ought to teach their kids how to do it.
Evidence is mounting that lots of people share Stan's amoral pragmatism. Because they define success and happiness in terms of getting what they want when they want it, ethics seems irrational. After all, in a world where cheaters so often prosper, why should anyone give up the benefits of dishonesty?
Well, for one thing, the Stans of the world have no idea the price they're paying for the little they're getting. A life without principles is demeaning and self-defeating. The Stans of the world are cheated as often as they deceive others. What's more, they victimize themselves. As they scrape and struggle to fill their lives, they give up their chance to lead fulfilling lives.
The happiest people I know are those who find purpose and meaning pursuing a grander vision of a good life measured in terms of worthiness, not net worth. Virtue is not a tactic; it's a life philosophy.
We paint the self-portrait we call our character by our values and actions. We can render that likeness in the pale watercolors of shallow successes and shortlived pleasures or in the deep, rich oils of honor, spirituality, peace of mind and self-respect.
The enduring impact of our choices is not what we get, but what we become.
— Michael Josephson, of Playa del Rey, is founder and president of the Joseph & Edna Josephson Institute of Ethics and of the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition. His Web site is www.charactercounts.org. He can be reached by e-mail at commentary@jiethics.org.
(Requires free registration.)
Article discussions on this site are to support community debates of issues related to our stories and editorials.
Discussions should not stray from the subject of the story or editorial.
We do not allow the following:
We reserve the right to delete threads and/or ban users for these or other reasons we deem necessary.
Opinions are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.