Morality free essay sample

The nurse explained that her husband, a talc miner, had stayed on the highway with the boy’s body until the coroner could get over the mountains from Bishop, at dawn today. â€Å"You can’t just leave a body on the highway,† she said. â€Å"It’s immoral. † It was one instance in which I did not distrust the word, because she meant something quite specific. She meant that if a body is left alone for even a few minutes on the desert, the coyotes close in and eats the flesh. Whether or not a corpse is torn apart by coyotes may seem only a sentimental consideration, but of course it is more: one of the promises we make to one another is that we will try to retrieve our casualties, try not to abandon our dead to the coyotes. If we have been taught to keep our promises – if, in the simplest terms, our upbringing is good enough – we stay with the body, or have bad dreams. Morals are expendable when survival lies in the balance. Survival, of what? Survival of life, survival of an idea, survival of a relationship? Millions have killed millions because they thought their agenda was more prevalent, or their god justified it, or because they needed to in order to fulfill the instinctual desire to live at all costs. In no way am I saying that ethics should be readily broken for personal gain, but the principles that so many try to live by arent as universally important as they seem. I truly believe that if you are not living for other people, you are not truely living. Relationships mean everything. Its not just the way you treat family, or your friends, its everyone. I treat people how I would want to be treated and give respect where respect is due. My morals are much more diverse then just dont lie, steal, cheat, or kill . My morals are reflective of todays day and age, not as dated and black n white as those four. My morals are competitive, like our present society. I never intend to hurt anyone, and my actions are far from malicious, but if the survival of something I hold close lies in the balance, I am willing to bend my moral code in order to ensure the continued existence of what I view jeopardized. I stand by what I believe; those are my morals. Live for others, but never forget who is left at the end of the day. Ive always viewed integrity as personal. Its how you a carry yourself. Its how you act when no one is watching. But, this is all personal. I dont let other people dictate my integrity, I let my actions speak, and I ask myself at the end of the day, if I acted like the man I want to be. Many days, when I reflect on myself, I realize I havent been. And this is life, improving day to day so you never repeat mistakes.