PEOPLE have their own basis/ses of right and wrong, that is, if they discern before they act. Specifically, we look at four main things to assess an act. These are intention, act (itself), circumstance, and consequence. Aside from this there are other measures to base the rightness of an act such as values, the golden rule, and principle. How can a principle trigger the behavior of a person and why can it be a basis of moral actions?
A principle directs the thoughts and actions of a person. It is like an ideology which a person live by. If the principle of a person goes like “education is the key to progress,” definitely that person will exert all effort to get a diploma. Guided by this principle, he/she would go to school on time, he/she studies well, listen and respect his/her teachers because he/she knows that all of these help him/her get that diploma.
In time of financial difficulty, he/she will not hesitate to borrow money from his/her friends and relatives or sell products just to support his/her studies. Many of us have principle like “family first, career second, and third whatever.” So the world almost entirely revolves from home to office and from office to home. People like these treasure overtime works while nights out are considered waste of time. When promotion comes, the sky's the limit for the celebration.
Principle is one basis of a good act but it has its own limitations. A principle to be considered a basis of good act must be a universal principle. It means that a person’s principle is aligned to the universal truth and accepted by the world. It cannot only be a principle of one or two people.
A principle like “purging through death” to reduce the overcrowded population of a country is evil in itself because it is utter contradiction of the universal teaching about respect and truth. An example of a distorted principle or ideology is the political ideology of the Khmer Rouge regime under the leadership of Pot Pot. They wanted to turn Cambodia into a socialist agrarian republic. To do this, they emptied the cities and forced Cambodians to relocate to labor camps in the countryside where mass executions, torture, forced labor, physical abuse, malnutrition, and disease were prevalent. About 1.5 to 3 million people have approximately been killed.
Since followers of the infamous leader adhere to this belief, for them, the summary executions and tortures were deemed acceptable and therefore right. See the distortion in thinking. If a person’s principle is to fight for justice, rallying in the streets to voice out the injustices happening in the land is a righteous act.
A person adapts or embraces a principle from his/her life experiences or it could be triggered by a tragic or a defining moment of a person’s life such as the death of a love one or near-death experience of the person.
There are people who have live helping people with cancer because a love one was lost through a cancerous disease. After experiencing extreme poverty, many people made it a way of life to help impoverish communities as a way of adhering to their principle that poverty should be eradicated. We are defined by our experiences because these experiences prompt us to form an ideology or principle to serve as our guide and direction of our lives.
If the principle of a person sides with the truth, it can be deduced that the acts in adhering to this principle, are good. For instance, the principle is to follow and live the truth no matter what because the truth set us free, the person having this principle as long as he/she endeavors to live by this principle, should avoid all kinds of cheating and deceiving. He/she won’t cheat in class, he/she would not take bribes from others, and he/she would try not to tell lies to others. If the principle of a leader is to be fair and just to all employees, he/she would avoid giving favor to other employees no matter the circumstances.
Adhering to a good principle is difficult because of the many temptations and our own many biases. Sometimes, others can’t stop to give in to a favor even though it’s unjust because the person asking the favor is a friend or a relative. Sometimes others in the administrative posts can’t help but favor others, even though by principle it is wrong, because of their subjective views. Relationship poses a strong challenge in adhering to our principles. We also have difficulty sticking with our principle when our lives are put in danger. We forget to tell the truth when we are bribed. Being faithful to our principles require guts and strength of hearts.
We know that we are doing a right act when it is in accordance to a principle that is universally recognized as good. When we are not sure if what we are doing is right, it is imperative that we reevaluate if the principle where we are basing our actions is acceptable. In a country where citizens are known for putting high regards on relationship, we badly need principled personalities. These are people who adhere with their belief as long as they are right even if they are being criticized.
Yet we must discern again and again if we are guided by the right principle or else we are taking a wrong turn and perhaps waging a winless war.