Haz lo que quieras

In my last post I wondered whether it was right or wrong to follow orders and costums or act on whims without taking into account the consequences of our actions. After reading chapter 3, I've come up with a "temporary" answer (those who are reading this book know what I mean ;) !)
Think. That's the first of the answers I found to my question. Not once, but twice, three times, as many times as necessary. And, once more, bear in mind that your decisions carry consequences. We are free when we examine what we do: nobody else can do this for us.
Do whatever you want... I still haven't made up my mind as to what to say about this... I figure I'll just have to wait for chapter 4!

Órdenes, costumbres y caprichos

In my last post I asked myself whether Ethics had practical implications for our daily lives. After the unfortunate events which took place in our province of Neuquén, I firmly believe Ethics is intrinsically related to how we live day by day.
Is obeying orders ethical, no matter what we are being asked to do? To what extent can we abide by the law? How can we measure the importance of priorities in life? I wonder if the person who shot Carlos Fuentealba at least asked these questions to himself when he decided to follow orders. When he aimed at him. When he pulled the trigger. When he killed him. When he left a woman and children without a husband and dad respectively. When he caused the whole of the school community to lose a committed teacher...
We are individuals and, at the same time, part of a community. There are laws that are to be respected. We cannot be subjected to whims. Nevertheless, we cannot obey every order we are given without thinking about the consequences they carry. Everything we do has a purpose and a consequence. We should bear this in mind every day...
To Carlos Fuentealba and his family, all my respect and love. To those who killed him on a whim, giving nonsense orders, following a tradition of disrespect for life... I have nothing to say but to express my public and strong disapproval.

De qué va la ética...

What is it that we understand by Ethics? Is it just a subject? Does it have practical implications? What does ethical behaviour comprise? And so and so on... The more I read chapter 1, the more questions I ask myself!
First of all, the concept of Ethics is going to vary from individual to individual. I can think that at times lying is ethical whereas someone else may regard lying as a terrible thing!! Then, all of us have an ethical system of our own: we may share some ideas but we may not share some others. This ethical system is culturally-bound: from birth we're taught that some things are good or bad. From this point onwards, we choose...
Secondly, it is because we're free that we're capable of choosing. And in every choice we make, we're also taking ethical decisions. We decide what is convenient for us or not, whether we care about others or just us... we decide how we want to live our lives. The way we live, honouring or not our lives, is what we call Ethics!