Many say,
Ethics is only
what my heart whispers,
what my feelings approve.
But feelings are clouds,
they change their shapes,
and a heart that only feels
may walk away
from what is right.
Ethics is not a prayer alone,
not locked inside temples or holy books.
If it were,
only the faithful would be bound by it,
and the atheist would walk free.
But no,
ethics follows every human,
saint and skeptic alike.
Religion may light the lamp,
but ethics is the path we choose to walk.
Nor is ethics
the shadow of the law.
For laws are written by hands,
and hands can tremble,
can fail.
Slavery once wore legal robes,
apartheid once stood guarded by statutes
legal, yes,
but never just.
And ethics is not
the loud voice of the crowd.
Societies, too, can lose their soul.
When hatred becomes normal,
when cruelty becomes custom,
even a nation can fall,
as history once learned in Germany’s dark hours.
If right were decided by numbers,
we would vote our conscience,
survey our souls,
count opinions to choose our truths.
But truth does not rise from polls.
On life, on choice, on dignity,
the world itself stands divided,
so ethics cannot be borrowed
from society’s mood.
So what is ethics?
It is the quiet law
written in reason,
the compass of rights and duties,
the call to fairness,
the courage to protect,
the promise to be honest,
kind, and loyal.
It tells us,
do not harm,
do not silence,
do not steal another’s dignity.
It speaks of life,
of safety,
of privacy,
not as gifts,
but as rights.
And ethics is also a journey,
a lifelong questioning,
a mirror we hold to ourselves.
Are my beliefs strong enough to stand in truth?
Are my actions worthy of my words?
It is the daily work
of shaping not only ourselves,
but the world we leave behind,
so that our homes, our laws, our institutions
may rise on foundations
not of convenience,
but of justice.
Ethics is not what is easy.
Ethics is what is right,
even when the heart wavers,
even when the law fails,
even when society looks away.
