“The
Giver” is a book written by Lois Lowry which
was adapted to the big screen last August. It is a story of a young man named
Jonas, living in a perfect community—no evidence of disease, hunger, poverty,
war, and pain. This community is ruled by the Committee of Elders. The
Committee of Elders controls everyone and everything. After he has been
assigned to his lifelong job, he realizes that people have given up their
freedoms to feel and think as individuals, choosing instead to be controlled by
others. Jonas begins to understand the hypocrisy that exists in his community —
that is, the illusion that everything in the community is good when in fact it
isn’t. He then started to break the rules. In the end, he had brought back
wisdom and emotions to his community.
Ethics, sometimes known as
moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing,
defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct, often
addressing disputes of moral diversity. It is the rules of behavior based on
ideas of what is morally good and bad.
Society says that it is
immorally bad if we break the rules. We always receive judgments every time we
break the rules. But how can we really say that a rule is a good or a wrong
concept? What if the rules themselves are wrong too? Does it still make it
unethical to break rules? These questions preoccupied my mind several times.
Well, no one can answer correctly these questions. But philosophically speaking
and in relation to the movie, I can confidently answer yes to the question, “Is
it always unethical to break rules?”
Yes, Jonas has broken the
rules but he has corrected the crooked way of administration. He changed things
for the better. As Ashok Kallarakkal said and I quote: “If you do not see light
at the end of the tunnel, consider it an opportunity to create an opening
yourself...” This supports my point of view that sometimes it is not wrong to
break the rules, if only it would end up as a good result.
Consequently, breaking the
rules would result to lots of judgments. Society will scrutinize you. However,
if you have the courage and you are brave enough to face these consequences
therefore you’re ethical. Making a stand on your principle is what an ethical
man does.
The bottom line is that it is
not always unethical to break the rules. Sometimes it’s not a matter of doing
the right thing but it’s the matter of making things right. (Daryl P. Resurreccion, Mark Joshua J. Villa,
Elvis Jay B. Clemente, Richard Antonio, Christiajn S. Tualla, & Sethiel
Pabalon)
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