Doing Right While Others Do So Wrong

In my wanderings through the world, I'm generally inclined to live and let live.  I strive to treat others the way I'd like to be treated.  More often than not, I give people the benefit of the doubt, even in circumstances where I might be inclined or possibly justified to be suspicious or doubtful.  Unfortunately, more often than not, I experience scenarios or situations, sometimes repeatedly, wherein I learn that such and such a person is untrustworthy and unethical.

When such situations arise, I often strangely find myself surprised, wondering why on earth someone would do whatever it was they did...or did not do?  Surely they understand that their actions are malicious or unethical?  Surely they realize the consequences of what they do or do not do?  After all, I would never do what they did because I see how wrong it is!  How is it they don't see things the same way?

I suppose that some people are just not cut from the same cloth, as it were.  Not everyone tries to do right all of the time.  Not everyone is capable of knowing whether what they are doing is right or wrong.  Not everyone has an active conscience and certainly not everyone is ethical.

Mind you, I'm no saint, and I'm certainly not perfect, nor would I ever claim to be.  I am, however, capable of looking at my actions from an impartial third party point of view, or from someone else's point of view, and when I have wronged someone or have done something wrong I am able to admit it, ask forgiveness if needed, and make the changes I need to in my life to learn from my mistakes and become a better person.  It is a frustrating reality for me that there are some folks I know that are just not open-minded in this manner.

At the end of the day, I realize that life is a long journey.  Every time I get surprised by someone's lack of empathy or unethical behavior I get a little bit stronger and am able to deal with what ends up happening.  Sometimes I even manage to plan for what in my heart of hearts I stubbornly believe that I ought to not have to, because the person I'm dealing with will eventually learn and not do what they ought not to do.  I pray that one day having to so plan will cease being a source of frustration due to its frequency of occurrence.  I also pray that one day such planning will cease becoming necessary, but being realistic, I fear that such a day will not occur in my lifetime, let alone 100 lifetimes from now.

Dealing with other people's lack of ethics and untrustworthy behavior is my least favorite chess game to play.  I'd much prefer the ones with the board and the pieces.  P-K4?