Ethics –Doing what is right to accomplish what is good. This is a funny topic, because my ethics can vary in great deal to your ethics. Namely if it is my ethical best interest to kick puppies because it gives me a great deal of intrinsic joy, it may vary from your ethical position to not kick puppies. (Even if there is a great deal of intrinsic worth in doing so.) Where are my ethics derived, why do they motivate action within me, and will they change? An existential attitude would hold that I should take every opportunity, and grasp each day, and shape my own destiny. This idea in its fullness I feel quite disheartening. Life is to be filled with all that can be enjoyed, and then all that you can do to help others. I like to call my own decreed philosophy of life Entrastentialism. In life we must never forget all that stand in our own personal hierarchy of needs, but after those needs are met, we must turn away from our own wants, and face the needs of others.
Where was this philosophy derived? I like to think that the atmosphere that I was raised in gave me the foundation for this philosophy. It was a Christian home and the attitude of giving and sharing was always the foundation of our family values. It was an attitude where it was granted that we didn’t have much, but what we did have, a little could be there to help the needs of others.
How does this translate to living here in Utah, being a student, working part-time and having a fiancée? As a young student, I pay nearly $1400 a semester to go to school. What should school be to me? A chance to meet other people, have new experiences, and enjoy four years of my life as I slip, fall, and otherwise stumble through my academics? It is a time where all of those things at the beginning of my list can entail. But, I have to force the academics upon my self, not just so I have a diploma at the end of four years, but when a job is offered, and the time to perform is at hand. I may be ready to perform the task that is placed before me with the knowledge that my education has not only given me, but that I have found and worked for my self. Referring back to Entrastentialism, an education is not only gained through class work and lectures, but by the associations that we hold with other people. After your basic needs are met, then you must reach out to fellow class men and community to help feel their needs. Whether this is through service clubs, student government, team sports, or other methods, there are plenty of opportunities for students in high school, or college.
The basis of my code of ethics could be related around this series of Entrastentialism, or a method of living your life in a way to fulfill the needs of your person, and then to trying to make the world that you live in a place of peace and unity for others. This philosophy is not only to be carried through a school career, but into the workforce and family relationships. Imagine a world were people not only seek there own best interest, but earnestly seek the good and welfare of there neighbor. When this new harmonium is found it will bridge the gaps that are found within our society and create serenity.
