by Bonnie Christiano

Created on: September 04, 2008

Does it pay to have good morals? First, you must have an understanding of what morals are before that question can be answered. Morals can be described as conduct carried out with the distinction between right and wrong. Practicing good morals would indicate that decisions made would fall on the "right" side of the fence, rather than the "wrong" side.

But what distinguishes an act from being right or wrong? Whether something is right or wrong can be very subjective. One measure is legality. Is the act against the law? Whether something is legal or illegal is only part of the issue. Just because something is not illegal does not mean that it is the right thing to do. It isn't illegal to make someone cry by hurting his or her feelings, but is it right? Another measure is the standard of society. Does society in general view something as right or wrong? Cohabitation can be viewed as wrong by one portion of society yet another side of society may accept it wholeheartedly. A third measure is religion. One person's religion may view cheating on a spouse as wrong whereas another religion may embrace multiple partners.

Whatever your definition of right or wrong is, are you better off living your life by a moral code that is considered good? They say that the nice guy finishes last. Unfortunately in today's world, there can be some truth to that concept. A person who is willing to be ruthless, devious and conniving may in fact get the promotion at work over someone who is ethical and works hard. Someone who cheats on the test may get a better grade than the person who stayed up all night studying. A person who steals may have nicer things than someone who has to work hard to earn the money to legitimately buy material things.

So what is the motivation to do the right thing? For one, the deceitful worker may be exposed, the cheater may be caught and the thief may be arrested. Unfortunately they may not. But the fact that someone is able to carry out such acts says something about the content of their character and sooner or later it will catch up to him or her. The person who plays by the rules of law and society will be rewarded. That person will never have to look over his or her shoulder, wondering when the other shoe will drop. That person will undoubtedly earn the respect of their peers. And living with the satisfaction that he or she did not have to step on someone else or skirt the unwritten rules of life to get ahead can be all the motivation in the world.

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