“Are You Ethical?”

By Steve Soto

Whether you know it or not, we all encounter situations on a daily basis that require us to make a decision that will affect another person, or challenge our ethical or moral philosophy. We all like to think of ourselves as very good and principled people (which most of us are), but how far will we go to strive for, and ultimately reach that destination? How would you react in these different situations that test your honesty?

You walk into a restroom at the restaurant youre dining at, youre the only one in there, and on the counter you see an expensive watch with no identification; what do you do? Do you think you hit the lottery, put the watch in your pocket, and tell no one? Do you tell the restaurant manager what you found, and have him attempt to find the owner?
Youre walking back through the parking lot after buying groceries, and you find a wallet with a drivers license with $20 in it, what do you do? Easy? What if the wallet had $2,000 in it, and you were really short of cash and out of work? Would you do the same thing now, as you would have if it only had $20?
What would you do if you saw your best friends wife in a restaurant with another man? Would you tell your friend? Stay out of it and figure its between the two of them?
Would you tell your husband you spent $100 on a dress, when it really cost you $200?
Your neighbor owes you $5,000 for his part of a new fence that was built. You see him drop his wallet with $200 in it. Do you tell him, or figure its yours because he owes you money?
At work, an intern tells you about an idea he has, you discuss it at the next meeting and everyone loves it. Do you give credit where credit is due?
Is it ok to do something a little wrong if it doesnt hurt anyone, or if no one knows about it?

These are situations we all face in our daily lives. As you can see, some are minor, and some are serious. The fact that they range from little incidents to major ones, doesnt detract from the fact they all require an ethical and moral decision on our part.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inspiring Voices
• Release date: Aug 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9781462402748

Steve Soto

Steve is a retired municipal government employee. He has a degree in Law and worked 30 years as a Redevelopment/Economic Development Manager for four different cities. After retirement, Steve coached high school baseball, he is an avid Los Angeles Dodgers fan. Steve has been married 32 years to his wife Yolanda and has three kids, Lesley, Randi and Steven. He also has four grand children, Samantha, Matthew Jake and Lauren. Steve is the author of three other published books, “Are You Ethical”, My Journey Through Life With Multiple Sclerosis” and “Quotations”. His newest book “Thoughts of Life, Yesterday Today and Tomorrow” is a conglomeration of past and present writings of poems, essays and quotations.

Book preview

Copyright © 2012 Steve Soto.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Inspiring Voices books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

Inspiring Voices

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.inspiringvoices.com

1-[phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0273-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0274-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012914447

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my children Lesley, Randi and Steven, and to my grandchildren Samantha, Matthew, Jake and Lauren.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my sister Vivian Hoorn for all her hard work and inspiration. She read every word, every sentence every paragraph over and over, to ensure the manuscript read correctly. She continued to edit and re-edit, even after a surgery. I can never thank her enough for her hard work, that made this book possible.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Truth

Chapter 2. Character

Chapter 3. Religion

Chapter 4. Love

Chapter 5. Ethics

Chapter 6. Dignity

Chapter 7. Evil

Chapter 8. Pain & Suffering

Chapter 9. Situational Ethics

Chapter 10. A Brief Outline Of How To Be A Better Person

Summation

Bibliography

PROLOGUE

This book is not written to reveal a new philosophical viewpoint, or to attempt to convince the reader to practice an old, long established Eastern philosophy. Nor is it written to debate or question the existence of a Higher Power, or the validity of new scientific theorems. These timeless questions have been with us for as long as man has had rational thought. I will not theorize as to when these questions will subside, or when an answer will come that would satisfy all concerned.

Our quest is not to espouse the thoughts of the great philosophers Hume, Spinoza Plato or Aquinas, or enter the debate with the great scientific minds of Einstein, Krauss, or Hawking. Our journey with this writing is to be aware of our own thoughts and actions, how they arose, and how they affect our ethical behavior and treatment of others. We can begin to live our lives in a style so that each encounter with others is on a higher plane. Each situation is an opportunity to seek the truth about ourselves, and to react to that truth in a moral and positive manner.

Truth is being open hearted, and open minded with yourself and others, opening up to the idea of questioning your beliefs. Once you are truthful with yourself, you will not be limited to a narrow point of view of circumstances, or others. You are open to entertain other perceptions of life and your acceptance widens. You realize the you you’ve been all this time, has been sheltered, judgmental and has not experienced everything, and everyone at the highest levels. Being truthful will now allow you to entertain new, and heretofore foreign concepts and individuals. Your world will now expand, and your mind and heart will become accepting and non-judgmental.

Every day we react to others in ways we may regret, or feel poor judgment was used on our part. A change in the way we interpret the person or situation, or a change in our approach, may bring us the personal harmony we seek. You must react to each situation or individual, in an honest and moral way, seek the truth of yourself, your direction will be a natural and easy path. You can shape and guide your life according to the highest ideals. Norman Vincent Peale once said Change your thoughts, and you can change your world.

Norman Vincent Peale’s quote is the idea I’m referring to when I say be truthful with yourself, and you will widen your world, and experience life on a higher plane. What Vincent Peale said, is his philosophy and ethical view of life. The situations we face on a daily basis, whether they be minor or major, all require an ethical and moral decision on our part.

History says a society reaches its peak in 200 years, and then declines. Are we there yet? We’ve already reached our bicentennial. What about the Roman and Greek civilizations? We’ve all read stories on the moral decay of their civilizations. Does the decline of a civilization precede a decline in societal values; or does the decline in moral values precede the collapse of a civilization in general? Some examples of behavior and actions are obvious on what should be done. They are black and white, but not to everyone. A lot of people live their lives in the grey area. How close to the edge of the grey are they? Everyone has their own barometer of right and wrong. Unfortunately, some people don’t think it’s wrong to kill, rape or steal. However, the majority of people deem that kind of behavior so wrong, that laws have been passed to punish those that participate in that kind of activity.

In the 19th century, disputes and differences used to be settled with guns, and death. That was the way of the west. What if the majority of people thought that kind of behavior was warranted, and there were no laws against it? In a significant percentage of cities and states, fifty percent of the vote plus one, is considered a majority. How close to that tipping point are we? Is there that large of a majority today, to ensure we will never transgress into such a lawless, and immoral society?

Surely you say, we have more good in us where we would never tip the scales to such a perverse society. But remember, even good people do bad things. Where do you fall on the ethical scale on what you consider right or wrong? Let’s just hope we have more good people doing good things, because the bad people are always going to do bad things.

How we have lived our lives, the influences in our lives, our fears and expectations, are all responsible for how we respond to different situations today. Why not change our thoughts, and