STRUCTURE:  RULES, ETHICS, AND MORALS: A Discussion

How to live a Happy and more Successful Life... and absolutely something to do about raising children.

 

STRUCTURE:  The way I see it, People tend to do better in a structured environment.  It is easier to navigate.

I don't how it happened. Like so many of the things that happen in our society during our lives, and these things usually take place and become part of our Culture over time and without really being noticed. But to say they are not important is ignorant, or just refusing to see what is going on.

 

Rules -

Oh shite... more rules, and more people telling me what to do. It's not fair, you can't make me... and I just won't follow. I'll do what I want anyway! So F*** off.

 

Attitude. Why? Why do the Rules have such a bad rap. Always viewed in Negative Terms as a limiting affront to our personal sense of choice, maybe freedom, or our ability to navigate the Social Environment on our own? IDK.

 

What if the Rules are actually a gift? Something already figured out and tested in time and experience. Let me explain... and this is only one perspective regarding a topic that effects so many different areas of life – the Rules.

 

When I was about 9 years old, in the car, step-mother driving me back to Dad's house from a Summer swim lesson when we entered an uncontrolled neighborhood intersection... and thawack-a-mundo, we were hit, broadsided by another car... T-boned as they say.

 

So why did that happen? There were No RULES. Nothing to indicate an intersection was ahead, no Slow Down Right-of-Way sign, no STOP sign, nothing. Within a month there were STOP signs (rules).

 

At work you are told, “we do it this way, not how you're doing it now.” Why? Because last year one of the skilled workers cut two of his fingers off doing it the way you're doing it now. So this is how we do it and it is a Rule of the workplace.

 

So what if we mentally/emotionally “re-frame” how we think of, or the value we put on Rules. What if, rather than a negative... someone telling us what to do, or how to do it; what if we consider Rules more as Guides that help us navigate through the Social Landscape, and actually help us achieve our Goals and become happier; more secure. What if we realize that someone else already went through this stuff and left us a guide map that says: If you want to be more successful and happy in life, then do these things over here and not those things over there... Sounds like Dos and Don'ts; Yep, Rules.

 

I mean, we all get to choose how we look at things. Most of us “see” things the way we are conditioned and cultured into seeing things... the way our Parents taught us; the example they set for us to follow, and the Institutions that follow the same Mind-Set. But remember, be smart and realize that you, yourself can decide to change how you view something, what it means to you, or what value it holds.

 

RULES, for me are mostly positives. I see them as Guides through the Landscape of our Social Infrastructure. I have decided that most of these Dos and Don'ts are small things and mostly have no negative impact on my personal abilities, my success or happiness. In fact I am happier and do better when I follow the rules – because I don't ever feel guilty for something I did. I don't have to worry about how it affected, or what other people think; and I do not have to worry about other, perhaps even more drastic consequences, like; loss of a relationship; loss of a job; tickets, fines, jail, death???

 

Rules are a part of the Social Landscape, and necessary for living an easier life. Even though Elvis says that He did it His Way – he still did it within the Rules. How do I know this? Because when he died he wasn't in jail, wasn't hiding from anyone, he wasn't homeless, and people still liked him.

“His Way” was apparently mostly within the Rules... within the Structure of our Society.

 

 

ETHICS and MORALS:

Personal Behavioral Guidelines (Rules) that you choose and that guide your life and tell others Who You Are and where you stand.

 

Believe me... it really is not easier to go through life without any Ethics or Morals. But what do they mean and what is the difference between these two Personal Character Traits?

​

MORALS:

1. A lesson, especially one concerning what is right, wrong, or prudent, that can be derived from a story, a piece of information, or an experience. “The Moral of the story is...”

    

2. A person's Personal Standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do.

    

ETHICS:

1. Moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity.

    

2. The branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles.

​

WHAT ARE YOUR MORALS AND ETHICS?

If you want to know yourself better; if you want to understand your own set of Morals and Ethics, or if you want an exercise in order to establish a personal set of Morals and Ethics, then do this simple exercise. These can be things that you already do, or new things that you want to do, or not do.

 

Write down the 10 things you will not do.

Write down the 10 things you will do.

 

Morals and Ethics provide additional Structure to your life and add to your Self-awareness, self-image and self-value. ...and as I have said, “Know thy Self. For in this Knowledge all things are possible.”