by Jobie Weetaluktuk

Created on: December 06, 2007

I do not feel obligated to be moral. I am moral in that I have a sense of right and wrong. This is one of the discussions that has so many facets, and shades, that I could have chosen either side and still remain unconvinced. I have a moral sense of right and wrong. I also know that this sense can slip and slide a bit to one or the other side, yet I consider myself to be moral. In many ways I am obligated to be moral, but I also tend to turn against the pressure that is applied on me. Moral or otherwise.

Here are some of the things that I feel are very strong obligations to a moral sense. Killing for instance. People are really adverse to killing of other people. Some feel so strongly that killing is so bad, that they advocate the killing of a killer as the just price for killing in the first place. I find that really odd. Then there are others that feel killing of any kind is so bad that they will not even mount a defense. They would rather see killers such as Saddam Hussein, not hang for his actions. He was hung.

Then there laws that are based on morals. Drinking and driving is one for instance. Most drinking and driving laws were drafted to prevent the killing of on road, or roadside civilians, and to protect expensive property. There is a very strong moral pressure from the community against drinking and driving. Regarding drinking and driving, I am obliged to be moral.

Morals intrude to even the food we eat. When was the last time you ate with a very pushy vegan? I know one guy who pushes back by obnoxiously, noisily, and veraciously eating his flesh meat. Let each man eat at his table in peace, that we may have an hour of peace.

The save the planet are also heavily into moralizing. Save the forests for the monkeys and the bugs. Save the woods for the birds. There is no turning back from extinction they like to say. Where were they went the magnificent dinosaurs got extinct? The dodo bird famously got extinct and no moral tears were shed. There are no morals when rat poisons get sold by the tons. No one makes a world wide campaign to save the malaria mosquitoes. Morals are very interesting things.

I've heard in the news where community morals have been enforced. A young woman from India was killed by her brother because she left her husband. She left because he was mentally and physically abusive. She was killed to preserve the family honor. That is morals obligated and enforced.

Am I obligated to be moral? I like to think not. I like to think that I am ethical, decent, and moral in my own way. As I part take in this debate, I begin to really wonder about myself and my make up. Are you obligated to be moral?

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