Ethics Journal

Ethics Journal~

Question # 1

Have I (or has someone I know) ever been judged unfairly? What went wrong? How can I avoid misjudging others?

In this day and age, society is mostly run by rumors. There are simply no more facts, just speculation based on other people's speculations. I know a handful of people that are judged, simply on the account that someone had told them a story that is completely unfair and unjust. I also know people that have judged others by one simple mistake that they had made, and have tried to make amends for. Of course there are people that deserve to be judged, deserve to be branded by the things that they have done. These people are usually the ones that are fully aware of what they are doing wrong and have no regrets; they just keep on doing it. I avoid judging others by making sure I see the full story firsthand and I have experienced these actions hands-on. I have to make sure that these rumors have truth to them before I go off repeating them to others. Things like these can ruin a person's reputation for no valid reason.

In the television drama, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, a female doctor comes to the town of Colorado Springs. The whole town is completely non compliant with the new doctor in town being a female. They are fueled by sexist comments and they belittle her in any way possible just because of her gender. This woman has shown nothing but compassion for the people in the town of Colorado Springs; such as befriending Charlotte Cooper and agreeing to look after her three children Matthew, Colleen, and Brian after she dies. She had done absolutely nothing that could stand as a plausible explanation for the whole town judging her, but they do anyway.

Question # 2

What role can religion, culture or ethnicity play in helping me to understand my "fellow man," regardless of his or her background/orientation? Are there misunderstandings (in any of the above-cited categories) that "we humans" should learn to overcome?

Every religion, culture, and ethnicity has its own reasons for what they believe in, the holidays they celebrate, and the things that they preach. There are so many people in this world that judge harshly without any reasons to, such as the one I listed in the page before. To help myself understand my "fellow man," I must be open-minded to the ideas that they are open-minded to, and put myself in their shoes. They must find a certain comfort in their religion and culture that they can't really find anywhere else. No matter the background or orientation, every person is a human being. They are just as much of a human being as any other man or woman on this planet, and even though we do not understand them fully, we can try to by stepping into their shoes and seeing the way they deal with their lives through religions and cultures.

In the first episode of "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman," you learn that