Ethics
By Sam Goodwin
People who talk about God, who make a big deal of believing in God and who talk as if they knew something about God, are liable to make statements like this—"If people didn’t believe in God, there would be nothing to restrain them from bad, evil, viscious, anti-social behavior." Well, I started at an early age (I believe at about eight) to build an ethical system that had nothing to do with God.
As a child my father had been frightened out of his wits by hell-fire sermons and had subsequently turned his back on all religion—at least all organized religion. He would have preferred never to hear God mentioned. To him religion was something invented by rulers to keep people in line.
I simply linked up the following observations:
- I want to avoid pain,
- The world’s full of living people and other creatures who, like me, apparently have the ability to experience pain, and
- While I cannot experience their pain it is probably just as real—just as painful—to them as my pain is to me
Therefore: It is wrong to inflict pain on anyone or any creature.
A few months later my father and a woman who happened to be visiting had a discussion—not very long or deep—about the puzzling phenomenon of two brothers who turned out entirely different even though they both had the same ancestors and very nearly the same upbringing. I took these thoughts to bed and soon had the following revelation.
A person has absolutely no control over what kind of ancestors he has or over which genes he will inherit and which ones will be crowded out. Likewise, a person has no control over what sort of environment he is in during his early, most formative years. A person’s tendancy to cruel or dishonest acts is something implanted in him from outside as is his ability or lack of ability to resist temptation to do things he knows are wrong.
Therefore: To return pain for pain, injury for injury, does not "get even" at all. Revenge does not restore balance to an out-of-balance universe but merely adds to the total pain in the universe. "Two wrongs don’t make a right." Talk and thought of "revenge" or "getting even" is for children and mad people and has no place in serious grown-up discussion. (Punishment to discourage and evil doer from repeating his evil acts is another matter. It may be useful or even necessary but should never be confused with "vengeance.")
I seldom if ever find the word "deserve" appropriate to any realistic human situation. If fate, society, or an individual punishes someone for an evil act, he gets what he should have expected but not what he deserved. Everyone deserves an uninterrupted crescendo of delight from first awakening to final sleep.
Several years later my desire for sexual gratification and my desire to play the game of parenthood contributed to the creation of a new human being. (I say "contributed" because a woman had to contribute too.) It was obvious that I had an obligation to contribute to that human being’s survival and welfare—at least through the years of dependency—and to do my best to provide guidance. Forty years later I am still not sure whether I have been a good and successful parent.