What is Right and What is Wrong?
Is there a right and wrong in this world?
I think I could divide humans into two categories, the ones who believe there is a right and wrong and those who do not. Those who believe a right and wrong exists through everything have very strong beliefs and opinions of their own. But do you need to believe in there always being a right answer or a wrong one to stay true to what you believe?
Because I do not think you do…
All I hear on the news, at school, or in our society in general is that the world is failing and that our generation is screwed. I cannot exactly tell you why hearing this and participating in conversations revolving around this idea irritates me so much, but I can try to explain. I just do not get it. Of course, there are a lot more unheard-of things happening in our society right now, but since when was having such a negative outlook on the world the norm in society? Why is this the idea we settle with… It does not make sense to me! No matter what YOU think of this world or this society, it is not your place to influence a hopeless mindset into our culture because there are people out there who are so intrigued and motivated to make a difference. Giving up and accepting a negative viewpoint of our world to me is honestly quite disgusting!!!! I personally cannot even force myself to think like that, which also confuses me around the fact that how do people think like that… This stems into the spark of this idea I had.
Recently I had just participated in a conversation between two very wise people from two different generations than me. It was very interesting to listen to their perspective of the world and what they had experienced. Although, they were constantly debating something, the younger man claimed that there is no wrong or right answer to anything while the older man claimed there is always a right and there is always a wrong. This is when I began to invest myself in this conversation. I am just starting to experience so many new things in my life, and I was curious to hear from two strangers about their perspectives on why they both think the way they do. The younger man claims that there is no right or wrong in this world because it is all about perspective, and if you live through simply your own perspective and do not broaden your horizon, that is why you will always believe there is a right and there is a wrong. He believes this mindset stems from ignorance. Now, to reflect on the younger man’s mindset, this is EXACTLY how I think, and it has definitely helped me to understand more about the world as I get older and maintain a positive outlook on life. But am I still allowed to say this is the RIGHT way to think? Honestly, no.
The younger man began to explain something that I know will stick with me forever: he started to talk about his faith. He said he has never followed any sort of religion his entire life, and it has helped him to grasp this mentality. It has helped him to see the PERSPECTIVE of everyone who follows a religion and anyone in general! This mentality really had me thinking, and I realized in that moment something about my faith I had never realized. But first let me tell you a little something about my faith quickly so this is easier to understand. This is not a topic I want to dive into deeply because I want people of all religions and beliefs to be able to relate to this, but at the same time, it is the concept of this overall idea I am trying to explain. I grew up Catholic and have always believed in God, but I too have always had an open mind about religion. This definitely helped me to understand others more and my OWN connection with God as well. My faith is something I am working to get deeply connected with at this point in my life, but just because my parents believe one way does not mean I was born immediately with that belief. And that is why now that I am a young adult, I truly believe I am ready to build MY OWN connection with God that no one besides me and Him will understand.
Anyways, I said out loud when this younger man spoke about his religion, “I believe that there is no such thing as a right or wrong on this planet. There is no SINGLE human alive who has LIVED from the creation of the Earth until this moment. So HOW can anyone claim they are the one who is right and someone else is the one who is wrong? This is why I believe God is the only one who can determine what is right and wrong because God has experienced everything.”
NOW if you do not believe in God and just read that statement I wrote, do not freak out… the reason I shared that statement is that I believe in order to be our MOST intelligent selves, we must experience as many things, places, and opportunities as we can. THIS is how we eliminate ignorance, and this is how we as humans become more connected.
The older man in this conversation believed that there are things that are wrong and things that are right. And you may be like, “Jenna, you are literally contradicting yourself by saying this,” but I am not… this man is right too. This is the only perspective he believes in—that is his PERSPECTIVE. He is not wrong, nor is he right. BUT the only difference between him and the younger man is that he believes he is right, and that the younger man is wrong. Then these two men allowed me to participate more in the conversation as the youngest generation, the “one who has to save the world,” they called me. But I was so intrigued to just observe, and the one thing that absolutely stuck out to me the most was that these two men, yes, may have raised their voices at times to one another, but by the end, they did something that taught me a lot in that moment. They shared a hug and wished one another best wishes.
This is something I wish my generation would understand more of, that you can have a debate like this and still be civil. For our generation to be trusted more and more by the rest, we must understand they lived a totally different life than us. Those two men lived completely different lives from one another, but the difference with us is that I think our generation has been numbed. Numbed by our surroundings and numbed by the world around us, especially when it comes to communication. But we cannot lose our communication skills just like we cannot lose our optimism. This generation is very, very beautiful; we have so much opportunity in front of us to all do amazing things.
This conversation was definitely one of the most beautiful I have ever had in my entire life, and I cannot even share the whole thing with all of you because parts of it are hard to put into words. I just wanted to share enough to create a message that you guys can put into your own version, and that is…
We as humans need to look for beauty in EVERYTHING. We as humans need to understand this world’s problems are not impossible to fix. We cannot lose optimism in our society. WHY WOULD WE WANT TO? Keep communicating and keep your eyes, ears, and most importantly your soul/perspectives open to EVERYTHING. My dad always told me in everything you do, act as a sponge and absorb everything, then form your own beliefs. This is definitely my most important writing to me so far, and it is very messy because I am still learning how to explain in words things that mean so much to me. I hope you all took something from this and understood what I am trying to explain.