Would you break your honor if it suited your needs?

[palnoki]

Say you wanted something or someone and you had the ability to get it but in doing so, you would have to break some pretty wrong lines, such as betray a friend, steal, lie, cheat to get some place, ect.. Now would you go ahead and do this because after all this is something you want really bad and your conscience isn't tangible but would it weigh on you especially after to get what you want? Or would the thought that you worked so hard on yourself and want to keep your good name intact be so strong that you wouldn't use cheap tactics to achieve your desires?

For me, my personal honor is too high to throw under the bus for my desire. I want to be known as dependable and fair and honest and that means more then what ever I want. I mean if you keep cheating and backstabbing people eventually you run out of friends and others that view you as nice and also lose yourself to that ball of negativity that builds within you. It would be too high a price for me, but perhaps other people don't care or feel the impact of being a thief or the social stigma of such actions.  

[AlcoholicPancake]

Oh, get off your high horse...

If someone offered you enough money to stab your friend in the back, or threatened your safety and well being to betray a friend, you would in a heart beat. All someone has to do is find the one thing that makes you tick, and you're screwed. It's a natural human thing. We value ourselves more than anything and anyone else. If someone threatens us enough or enough is offered to us, we'll do whatever it takes to become safe or get what we want. We're a greedy, self centered, race of pricks.  

[palnoki]

AlcoholicPancake

Oh, get off your high horse...

If someone offered you enough money to stab your friend in the back, or threatened your safety and well being to betray a friend, you would in a heart beat. All someone has to do is find the one thing that makes you tick, and you're screwed. It's a natural human thing. We value ourselves more than anything and anyone else. If someone threatens us enough or enough is offered to us, we'll do whatever it takes to become safe or get what we want. We're a greedy, self centered, race of pricks.

Being threatened for survival is a completely different topic, and no I would not commit murder for money. There have been many individuals who exemplified what is just like Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Joe Moakley, most Buddhist monks, and all those not famous who appreciated self improvement. Why do you assume that everyone thinks the way you do, you can't say that all people are out for themselves, I believe people are inherently good natured and just individuals at heart, we only choose the wrong path when we see no other way.

Also my examples implied more realistic scenario's like taking something form a store when no one is looking, having an affair, plagiarizing to get ahead in your job. Those are more common events we come across. Some people will not take a bribe some will, some people cross the line some don't. I just want to know if people would be honest and decent if no one was looking or has our self pride eroded so much that as long as we don't get caught we do what we want.  

[Sanzoskitsune]

I'm slightly insulted Pancake that you assume EVERYONE is like that. True not every one is good at all times. People mess up and they allow their desires to rule them. I don't think everyone's like that though. There are people who, like myself, would not cause any harm to others no matter what they got in return. That being said, there are times I am sure I would cross the lines I set. I truly believe there are some evils in this world that MUST be committed to ensure even worse evils aren't. Take WWII for instance, in my view, war always has been and always will be wrong, it is an evil. HOWEVER, the evil of having WWII had to be committed to stop the greater evil of the Holocaust. Things are never simple and like you said palnoki, I think people are inherently good... some of them just get messed up along the way.  

[AlcoholicPancake]

I'm not saying causing harm to someone is the only thing to do. I'm saying like... You do something or something bad will happen to you, or if you really want something, you take money that isn't yours for it. Everyone is guilty of doing it. As I said before, as a race, humans are greedy and self-centered.

Honor is dead these days, and has been for a long time.  

[Sanzoskitsune]

But taking things from other, doing stuff you know is bad DOES cause harm to others in the long run and its not something I could feel good about. I'm not saying I ALWAYS do the right thing but I try my hardest. I don't think humans are all self-centered and greedy, I have more faith in the human race than that. I don't think honor is dead, just hard to find these days.  

[Large Inmate]

I think that everyone would commit something bad for the right price. For some people it's harder to find that price and others are easy.
I also believe that people are either taught to be good or bad.

To say that I wouldn't do something to further myself in life is a complete lie. I know I would, I may feel a bit guilty about it but I would still do it and then laugh.  

[Lobo-chan]

Hmmm, I'm not entirely clear on what you're trying to say here, but... I'd say that yes, I have some morals, things that I say are wrong and should never be done... but at the same time, there are some things that I acknowledge as 'bad' that I would probably do anyways if it came down to it.
Yes, I admit that lying isn't a good thing unless it's something stupid like the dress question or something... but I lie a lot. It just makes things easier. Yeah, cheap way out, but whatever. Yes, after a while it gets to be a bit much for even me in some ways, but...

As far as stealing? If it was just because I wanted something, then probably not. If it was for food or survival? Then hell yes.
Murder? Hmmm... I wouldn't consider every killing a murder, but... I don't think I'd kill anybody, yet I know that I'm capable of it on some level.

So... I think it's totally circumstantial on if I'd break my 'morals' or anything... but in the right situation, I'd throw just about everything out the window short of rape and child abuse. To me, those are totall unforgivable. Yes, murder is wrong too, but... there's still times when killing is right. But it's never right to rape somebody or to abuse a child.  

[Dr Fischer]

AlcoholicPancake

Oh, get off your high horse...

If someone offered you enough money to stab your friend in the back, or threatened your safety and well being to betray a friend, you would in a heart beat. All someone has to do is find the one thing that makes you tick, and you're screwed. It's a natural human thing. We value ourselves more than anything and anyone else. If someone threatens us enough or enough is offered to us, we'll do whatever it takes to become safe or get what we want. We're a greedy, self centered, race of pricks.

I do agree that humans are selfish but the other day I was watching Star Trek and in a nutshell what makes humans, dare I say, special is our ability to sacrifice our life for another.  

[Dr Fischer]

When one wants to brake his morals it's only up to him to decide to do it.
I almost always put my friend's needs above mine, sometimes my grades will show it. But Once in a while I will do something completely and utterly for myself. And I will feel bad, but then I'll remember that I'm human. If you feel like your going to explode, let it out. Do something bad and mischievous, it's normal every once in a while. If you have good friends then they are either there doing stuff with you or forgiving you.  

[Connive]

Dr Fischer

When one wants to brake his morals it's only up to him to decide to do it.

I completely agree. I would like to say I'm always there for anyone who needs it but there comes a time when you have to make time for yourself.

I know something for certain though. I would never double- cross anyone to get ahead. I always hope people would do the same for me and if not, that's their choice.  

[Saverio C.]

PessimisticPancake

I'm not saying causing harm to someone is the only thing to do. I'm saying like... You do something or something bad will happen to you, or if you really want something, you take money that isn't yours for it. Everyone is guilty of doing it. As I said before, as a race, humans are greedy and self-centered.

Honor is dead these days, and has been for a long time.

Your new name fits your personality! The human race isn't all rain clouds and thunder storms. People are neutral things. They bend every which way. Some cheat more then others, other give more then they take. Most people won't hurt others unless there is a lot to gain, and even then they think long and hard about it. People always give away what they don't need, and a very small amount of people are murders.  

[Thaliat Everwood]

Well, seeing as honor is relative...who is to truly say the actions of one person are not honorable? One person's definition of honor may not be the same as another's definition.

I'll stick with legal and illegal for my honor definition. And since I haven't managed to break any laws...or caught doing so...I'd say I haven't broken my honor at all.

I'd break my honor if it was to save my life, no problem. I try to be generally decent, but I'm no idiot! But would I stoop to something like petty theft just because I couldn't afford a simple luxury? No, not even if I was offered huge sums of money to do so. It just isn't worth it for me to be bought.  

[Sanzoskitsune]

Saverio C.

PessimisticPancake

I'm not saying causing harm to someone is the only thing to do. I'm saying like... You do something or something bad will happen to you, or if you really want something, you take money that isn't yours for it. Everyone is guilty of doing it. As I said before, as a race, humans are greedy and self-centered.

Honor is dead these days, and has been for a long time.

Your new name fits your personality! The human race isn't all rain clouds and thunder storms. People are neutral things. They bend every which way. Some cheat more then others, other give more then they take. Most people won't hurt others unless there is a lot to gain, and even then they think long and hard about it. People always give away what they don't need, and a very small amount of people are murders.

It's scary to know that every now and then no matter how much you may piss me off at times... there are other times where I completely agree with you.  

[Iconoclast Enthusiast]

I'm imperfect, as is everyone in this world, and so I cannot claim that I would never do something "bad," be it to advance myself or for other reasons. However, does doing something bad make you a bad person? If so, no human being who has ever lived was a good person, because (aside from infants and other people without an idea of self) people will do something "bad" within their lifetimes.

I don't think that doing something wrong makes you a bad person, necessarily. It depends on whether or not you realize what you've done is wrong, whether or not you regret it, whether or not you'd be willing to do it again, and the scale of the harm your actions cause.

People ******** up, but that doesn't make them evil.

---------------

Would I be willing to 'break my honor?' I'll take that to mean something like go against my morals. I'd like to say no, but these are just words. I believe that I wouldn't if I had no alternative, if I was aware that what I was doing would bring harm to people. However, I just can't speak for myself at times in the future where I might be a different person. Who knows?

For the time being, though, I put the well-being of others equal with my own and above it in some cases.