This is a time of ethics. As the presidential debates roll on and we draw closer and closer to the voting booths, we must confront our own ethical convictions. Is money what matters most? What about personal responsibility and individual liberty? If American lives matter, who are we to say that the lives in other countries don’t matter? Yet is it really up to us to get involved in the business of other countries? And then there is education – who should have the final say on where and what American children learn? The parents? The state? The federal government? Teachers? Principals? Should our children be learning about the importance of the country or the importance of following their own conscience?

My list of questions goes on: welfare, homelessness, poverty, crime, immigration, the environment, animal overpopulation, human overpopulation, racism, sexism, and closest to my heart – abortion.  If I were to sit down with any number of people and discuss these issues with each one, I would end up walking away with any number of opinions and suggested solutions to each issue. In fact, just yesterday I had a similar discussion with a friend of mine and, despite the weight of the topics, we had to laugh because our views were so different in many respects – yet we both want good to triumph.

I conclude that ethics is a matter of pourquoi, why? For every conviction we have, we must ask ourselves why? Why do I feel so strongly about this matter? Why do I hold to the stand that I do? Why does my opinion differ from so many others? Why does my opinion mirror that of so many others? And deepest of all, why am I here on this planet, at this point in the history of mankind?  If we can answer those questions it might helps us to have a clearer insight into what our responsibility is on Election Day and for whom we cast our vote.

Utopia will ever be out of our reach, but you are still responsible for the missed opportunities you had to do the right thing.