Last night when I was driving home I had a thought regarding my morals and ethics. I saw the difference very clearly between handling a problem by sticking with my morals versus handling the problem in a physical confrontation.

A physical confrontation will seldom resolve the problem and its impact is meaningless, while standing up for what’s right can change society for the better. Resolving an issue physically always results in loss of life even if no life is lost. It is also much easier to resort to a physical confrontation than to  engage in a civil and truthful conversation.

When I feel I’ve been wronged, discriminated against or simply disrespected; more often than not I end up with an anger that eats me alive. An anger that is so negative I can feel the years coming off my life. My brain tells me that it’s not worth being so upset, yet my heart has an insatiable hunger for truth and fairness. Is it because my brain is corrupted by society in a way that tries to put myself first; and in my heart is the God given instinct for fairness?

So I feel the best way to heal such an anger is to deal with the issue in a truthful and fair way, even if the reason you’re upset in the first place is because someone was dishonest and unfair to you. If your morals are based on fairness and truth, then you can end the unfairness you are faced with, and that will ultimately change the world around you. There is a tendency to weigh the cost of standing up for yourself, but I can assure you that the gain is much more than just a personal one, and the positive effect will permeate through the world around you in ways you cannot imagine.

Written by Pedro Guimaraes on January 19, 2008

P.S: The title of this article is a saying by Henry David Thoreau.