Absolute morality

Have you ever told a lie? What does that make you? Have you ever stolen anything? What does that make you?

These and simular questions are asked to show you are not perfect, that you are capable of doing immoral things. But are they always immoral? Let me tell you a parable. A man has a sick wife. He loves her dearly but without the right medicine she will die in a matter of days. The drug is too expensive and it could take years to save enough funds. The man decides to steal the medicine to save his love. To some, this would be an immoral choice because it involves theft. Taking what does not rightfully belong to him, but on the otherside of the coin we have a man who is willing to risk being caught and being punished with jailtime to save his wife from an early death. Personally, I see the risk as being worth it myself.

Honesty is indeed a desirable trait. It builds trust and it secures relationships. Consider this, a woman is being chased by a group of men who wish to rape and kill her. She hides in a place where only you saw her. The group see you, have no interest in you but ask if you saw her. Dispite them not knowing you, you have seen these people on the news before so you have an idea of what they plan to do. Do you answer honestly and tell them where she is, or do you lie to them and say you do not know?

Murder. No doubt most will agree taking the life of an unwilling victim is morally wrong. However you may find youself forced into a position where there is no choice. Imagine seeing your child on the street with a gun pointed to his head by someone who wishes to rob him. You yourself have a gun, but are not noticed. If the theif realises your child has no money, he may kill the child. If he notices a witness, he may kill you, the child or both. There is a chance. You pull the gun on him, he realises but he does not take the gun off the kid. You have faster reflexes and he would be dead before he could pull the trigger. Do you pull yours?

Or yet this, you confront a man who is about to press a button for a weapon of mass destruction about to kill hundreds, if not thousands of people. His man is insanly fanatical and has no intention of listening to reason, nor does he ear your gun, the only thing on his mind is killing those people. You can shoot him before he touches the button but too far away to grab and restrain him.

There are times of no win scenarios, but most people will try to choose the lesser of two evils. Life is a game, and we all must play with the dealt hands.