It is important to know right from wrong Essay

During this essay I am going to try to prove that it is important to know right form wrong. I am also going to explain how different cultures; backgrounds and circumstances can change people’s morals on right and wrong. An example of how people morals can changes due to circumstances is war. How is war different to murder? War can be defending the country you live in from being invaded and taken over. If your countries soldiers don’t shoot the invading soldiers then you would either be dead or living somewhere everything about you is considered wrong just because of you nationality. However, war can be attack where your country is the one who is invading another. But either way, does the little man have a choice? The little man has to do what his leader tells him to avoid being named a traitor or being killed by the enemy. In my opinion war isn’t murder. If both sides have weapons and neither side has a choice because if they don’t shoot first then they’ll end up dead. It’s a no win situation. However, a person who commits murder can have a choice. Murders can happen due to jealous or revenge or even pure hate of the person. But the murderer has a choice or whether or not to take someone else’s life. There is an exception in my opinion of somebody who is beaten up or constantly being injured by his or her spouse. I’m not saying women who get beaten up or men who do because it can happen both ways. There is a point in some people where they snap and can’t take any more and their hidden anger get released and they can murder someone in a moment of losing control. This does bring up the question ‘Is suicide murder?’ and one which I can’t answer myself for many reasons and therefore I’m unable to give my opinion on it. Some people may consider self harm to be a sickness and that even thinking about suicide is murdering yourself. If the life is yours to take who decides if you take it or not? Other people, maybe those who have considered it themselves believe it can be a way of escaping a situation rather than fighting through it and even that considering it is just bringing them to a conclusion that nobody else has reached yet. Is murder right or wrong? Murder is wrong in circumstances and can be right in others, the same for suicide. It all depends on the point of view that somebody looks at it from. There are always going to be exceptions in murder and suicide so nobody can give a clear right or wrong answer. Another example of right and wrong is the black and white version. The law is in black and white and doesn’t consider exceptions in many cases. The legal age of understanding the difference between right and wrong is ten years old in the United Kingdom. No child under the age of ten can be prosecuted and even those who are older are very rarely prosecuted as the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) doesn’t always agree to go ahead with the cases. Some cases do go through such as the case when Robert Thompson and Jon Venables murdered James Bulger. The CPS did agree with prosecuting them as they had taken a life and the chance of getting a conviction was realistic. The law has to be in black and white to ensure they treat everybody equally To know the difference between right and wrong you have to have substantial judgement to know when something you are doing is wrong. Growing up living in a location where burglary and violence are everyday occurrences can tilt the persons point of view on right and wrong. Circumstances can change the way their view is on different situations and the basic common sense that people have can cause the person to have different outlooks on different situations. This can cause their view of right and wrong to lead them to things they wouldn’t do other wise and end up in prison for committing a crime that they didn’t even know is wrong. Is it possible to unknowingly do something wrong? I believe that it is possible to do something wrong without realising it is wrong. It depends on common sense and the situation. In my opinion it is important to know the difference between right and wrong. If you don’t then you can do things unknowingly that are wrong and kill somebody due to not understanding the consequences of your actions. This makes it important to know the difference and be able to judge a situation on whether it’s right or wrong yourself. Ethics and morals are part of everybody’s opinions on whether something is right or wrong that means that your opinion has more influence on your actions and the way you treat other people than you realise. The problem with just saying it is wrong to murder or war is murder is that things aren’t that simple. The world isn’t in black and white like the law, it is in colour and so many things and situations have an exception, which is why people have to understand the difference between right and wrong so they can be able to judge the world for themselves.