Morality vs Ethics

What is morality?  What is ethics?  These are some of the questions I think much of society in America today is struggling with, especially the youth.  As a young man in my 20's, I have a long life ahead of me.  I don't know what others my age are dealing with, but I believe that the answer to these questions will go a long way in determining our nation's future.

Morals are personal principles.  They are things that we live by.  Morals are often thought of as personal truth.  Many have a religion that teaches a certain moral code to live by.  Others do not.  We all have them, whether we know it or not.  Morals govern our every day choices.

Ethics are influenced by society.  Ethics are also a code that we live by.  Certain cultures and countries have different ethics.  Ethics change form generation to generation.  There are profession ethics, a code a doctor or lawyer lives by.  There are certain things they are not allowed to do.

Both ethics and morals influence the way we act.  When arguing with someone, we may believe they are wrong and we know the truth.  But because of our cultural ethics we do not scream in their face.  We listen and then make our case.  We take turns because that is what is polite.

Unfortunately, some of those who make the news today do so because they do not have high moral standards or ethics.  They do things that are immoral and unethical.  One such person was the former attorney general in Utah.  While he was in the AG's office as an assistant, he did some things that were unethcial, but not illegal.  Because the actions were not against the law, he was allowed to stay in office.

I believe that any public official, whether elected or appointed, should be held to high moral and ethical standards.  If they do things that are unethical, they should have the decency to leave office.  They may not be doing anything technically illegal, but if they don't have high moral standards I think they have no business leading our town, county, state or nation.

Whether you are religiouss or not you have a code of morals.  I believe if we all raised our moral, we could raise the ethics of our nation.  U