The Ethicist

Before I begin this new post. . .for the love of God, Tom, please shut the hell up. I grew up wanting to be Tom Cruise. Up until I was in 5th grade, people would ask me what I wanted to be and I would say Tom Cruise. "Oh so you want to be an actor?" "No," I would say, "I want to be Tom Cruise." That feeling has long since passed, but I still think he is a pretty good actor. All this being said, please shut up and shut up now. You didn't even graduate from high school, you are a member of a cult, DO NOT PRETEND TO BE AN EXPERT IN THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY; you sound like an idiot.
I love the column in the New York Times Magazine named The Ethicist. If you have never read this before, it is basically an advice column where everyday people write in with their moral dilemmas and ask, "what is the right thing to do?" This column fascinates me on several different levels. First, I love being able to peer into the moral quandaries in which people find themselves.
"Dear Ethicist, My Son Bobby wants to play baseball, but is too small to hit the ball past the infield. Should I start him on steroids myself or let him come to the conclusion that he needs an 'edge' on his own?"
Okay, so I made that one up, but it isn't that extreme of an example, which leads me to the other reason I love reading these letters. It seems, for the most part, that the answers to all of the questions posed are so obvious. "Do not give your son steroids, but maybe steer him to an activity in which he can excel." This could mean one of several things; I have an extreme sense of right and wrong, everyone else is ethically bankrupt, or people are hoping that a columnist will give them the go ahead to do what they want to do by saying it is ethical. The first is fairly impossible because I know myself pretty well, the second would be pretty depressing if true, so I think it is the third one. This is actually somewhat encouraging because it means that people really do know which choice is the ethical one and are simply making sure there isn't some loophole they missed. This might not be admirable, but at least it is understandable. Making the ethical choice is sometimes difficult and I don't see anything wrong with covering all your bases before you suck it up and do the right thing. Oh yeah, before I forget; Tom, STOP TALKING!!!!