Legal / Illegal / Right / Wrong / Laws / Ethics / Morals

[Jim Johnson]

I want to open a topic that is based more in purpose than product. The 'why' we do things. On most boards I see people asking what is legal and illegal. While that is a worthy topic, I am perplexed to note that seldom are we discussing the Ethical and Moral side of the issues- aside from the legal ones. It seems, people want laws to rein in what other people do. Over time we will 'law' ourselves into some corner where there is no escape. When I see someone express a 'ethical or moral' argument, the people that do not agree stand on the law- like if it is not legal it is ok. When I see people bend the law, I see the opposed stand on a loophole to justify their stand. It seems when it comes to respecting another persons ethical and moral stand, in general as a society we have a really hard time doing so. Almost like, there is only one way, and other way is flat wrong. Here is a simple but personal example for me. I do not speed. Period. Not 10 over- not 5 over... I do not do it. I happen to respect the speed limit and for me- that is that. I also do not begrudge you from speeding. I stay in my right or middle lane, and just go the speed limit. So more info- I also happen to drive a very, very high performance sports car. The kind all of my friends say- if they drove the car one day they would have a ticket for sure- no questions. A joke between my son and I is how many people get really, really, really mad at people that drive the speed limit. I have had people get out of their cars to cuss me out because I was driving 55 in a 55. I have some on video- you would think I ran over all of their pets on purpose and did an OJ slow speed chase to get away. In fact, I just respect the law. Easy example right- the law is clear- though most people 'bend' it- for reasons I am not really sure of, nor do I really care so long as they are respectful of me obeying the law. Now a more grey example- I choose to not bend or break my marriage vows. These are not laws, but something different. Can an argument be made there is no law that says if your married you are to act certain ways and refrain from certain acts... yep. In court for instance I would loose every time. What is wrong for me, and most- is legal. Not every issue is about legal, or not legal... in fact the issues that shape our character, that fiber people stand on and say- he / she is that 'kind' or 'type' of person... they have nothing to do with laws- they have everything to do with where we operate inside of the laws. There are many, many business people I respect because they are savvy, smart and really know their stuff that I would never do business with. Not because the violate the law- but because the law is their boundary, making their actions predictable but for me- not tolerable. I would like to see more encouragement here, and in other forums, meetings and business dealings to respect each other. To try to understand where someone is coming from, not just bash what people are doing. The name calling and generalizations serve no meaningful purpose except to put people down, stifling people that might post for fear of being attacked by someone that thinks differently.  No one is right all of the time- and I am just thinking if people are fully educated on all viewpoints and the morals and values that drive them, and we all respectfully listen- we will all make better calls in business and life in general. In the end there will be people that agree to disagree... and that is ok...