Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Morals
Do you recall the times when you attended all those CME/ME (Civics and Moral Education) lessons in primary and secondary school? What have you learnt from all those seemingly boring lessons? How did you apply those lessons to your life?
I really miss those lessons because they teach me something that I can take and use for the rest of my life. Other subjects do interest me as well, but how long will they last in my life? Will I still be counting one plus one at the age of 100? Hmmm... Okay, maybe I will. But does it help you make the RIGHT decisions in your life?
What is the RIGHT decision anyway? In an economist's view, perhaps it would be the most economical way of doing things. Does convenience and cost effectiveness prove something to be right and moral?
How have we grown through all the life-long lessons that we have gained? Apart from the structured programmes that schools offer, life itself is where we have gained our experiences.
"There is no failure, only learning experience."
Sounds familiar?
That was what Thomas Alva Edison had said before.
True, we must always rise from our setbacks and learn from them. However, I think that the greatest failure of one is to grow in the wrong direction from his/her learning experience. He/she may have learnt his/her lesson, but to what kind of direction will he be heading to after that?
Let me illustrate my point with a simple example.
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Jolly had always been a generous person all her life. She was in her mid-thirties and she had many friends. She was blessed by God with wealth. She thought "Because I am given, I shall give." Her friends loved her compassion and her warmth when she reached out to them and helped them in their financial difficulties.
Then came one day when a robber broke into Jolly's house. To Jolly's horror when she came back home, almost all her valuables were robbed away. What was left were the things that the robber could not carry. "My goodness! Who could have done this??!"
Although Jolly had enough money to buy back her robbed belongings at least 5 times, she was still upset as much of her hard-earned savings had been gone just like that.
Upon investigation by the police, Jolly discovered that the robber was actually her close friend, Shandy.
She was devastated.
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How will Jolly learn from this experience? Will she learn that close friends cannot be trusted? Will she never trust anyone after that? Will this be how Jolly grows?
What direction will Jolly face when she learns from this experience?
Surely, Jolly's trust for Shandy will fall. That would be first and foremost whether her trust falls how much will be another matter.
If Jolly bases her learning experience on her feelings, she would learn to keep away from Shandy. Shandy would be seen as a cunning wolf (not even a friend/human). Jolly would harbour anger, hatred, and revenge. She would be reeking of all the negative emotions that one can think of. She will not care a single bit about the past experiences that they have shared as friends and all she sees Shandy is just another slut now. She wants to get even with her. She wants Shandy to feel as much pain as she had felt. For Jolly to reason with Shandy was impossible. Jolly had hardened her heart to Shandy. Jolly then began to suspect her best friend, Mari.
If Jolly is God-directed and has faith, she would learn that she has to be aware of Shandy. She will feel sad, angry, and betrayed, but she will offer these feelings to God and let them pass. What would matter more to her is her journey to forgive Shandy for her wrong doing. Jolly would care enough and talk things out with Shandy, to understand the reason for her actions. She would still be a friend to Shandy, because she still loves her as a friend despite what Shandy had done to her. In time to come, Jolly would be able to forgive Shandy.
But Jolly would not allow Shandy over at her place for the time being until she is sure that Shandy is no longer the robber that she was.
Being forgiving does not mean that one has to give in to oppression and be victimised in the process. It means to forgive and be there for that person, while keeping an arm's length away. That, is wisdom as well.
So you see, in both scenarios, Jolly DID learn something from her experience. But what was it that she had learnt, and how was it that she had grown from the situation? There are also many other cases, some of which do not just deal with two standard scenarios for people to choose from.
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I am thankful that there are such moral lessons in JC too. :)
Today's topic during the religious lesson was "Modern Advancement". It mainly touched on topics like euthanasia and stem cell research.
I do not have time as yet to elaborate on all the thoughts that I have on these issues, but what I had gained from the enriching lesson was what Mrs Tan said.
She said that "Because God is life-giving, we should make life-giving decisions too."
I understood.
Euthanasia, abortion, and stem cell research may not seem right at all, but if you take a deeper look at the various cases that may arise, we should take a more objective stance and bring in our faith. We should ask ourselves "Will this decision that I make be life-giving?"
This is roughly what I had thought about while doing the worksheet:
Life is a gift from God and we are the stewards of it. It has been given freely to us, so we should live it out fully. Suffering and death may not be a bad thing spiritually, it is just that we are afraid to face them. Whether or not we are able to heal or relieve one from suffering or death is not as important as the healing within. That is, our souls, and our faith.
to change the world.
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i am, christopher lye
21 on 15 March 2012
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