by Bai Maleiha

Created on: February 01, 2009

(Author's note: (To raters) Please be informed that I misplaced this article. It should have been posted on the NO side.)
FOR THE NO SIDE

Do I need to be obligated to be moral? Do I need to be reminded that immorality is not only a sin of mankind but a sin of the soul as well? Do I need a constant reprimand to slap my conscience to do the right things in life and must never depart from it?

NO. I am not obligated to be moral. I have to be moral not because I want to present an untainted image but owing to the fact that I exercise my choice to live a kind of life I want for me and my children. Being righteous is the key to creating a good life sans fear of making God our constant enemy.

Why do we have to abandon the teachings of morality if we suffer in silence? It is our conscience that becomes our oppressor once we divert from what is right. Peace of mind is unachievable in an immoral life.

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, a German philosopher, criticized religion and morality by saying that "morality leads mankind by the nose". Did Nietzsche fail to consider that man is rational and therefore he thinks. Autonomous in his perception of life, man is in control of what he wants his life to be. If man chooses a life of immorality, he will fulfill such desire. If he stands to fight the evils of immorality, he will prevail whatever comes his way.

Nietzche failed to address a twist of his own idea: "why must immorality lead mankind?"

No one can lead mankind by the nose not unless man allows it to happen. Not unless man succumbs to the authority before him. Not unless he is not capable of knowing where he should stand in the society.

Heroes are borned out of their moral quest for what is right. Many have offered their lives in exchange for the moral liberty of the oppressed. Morality is not a choice. It is a need. An endless need.

To view morality as imprisonment is in fact a jailing of the moral self. Doing good things to other people is our moral freedom. To speak of kindness about others at their back is a moral obligation. To judge fairly and not unkindly is a moral need.

What does an immoral society brings us? Treachery, infidelity, oppression, harassment, racism, hatred, violence and all the negative things that constrain man to live with freedom, for even his personal happiness is sacrificed.

Why do mistakes of the past teach a man to strive for reformation? We do not need a brilliant mind to answer this. For no matter how a man lived badly in the past, his moral conscience shall prevail at any given time of his life.

Whilst temptations pull the moral fibers of our existence and displacing them with badness, God will rule in every inch of our soul for morality is not something that lives outside our walls. To be exact, morality is the faith that connects our spirit to our human form.

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