I’ve realized that sometimes, while trying to uphold a particular law or tradition, we stop ourselves from realizing that we’re also indirectly guilty of breaking those exact same rules or traditions. While we place ourselves on a pedestal, thinking we’re doing the right thing when we go after those who don’t, we become guilty by failing to consider blurred lines and also the fact that not everything is black or white.
Many times, we get so carried away with our beliefs and standing that we see things only through the narrow lenses that we’ve imposed on ourselves, and we refuse to even consider anything else. We refuse to consider the fact that maybe, we might be going about it all wrong. We never get there.
Think about how these days, a teacher could decide that they want to be strict and also a disciplinarian. But then, they take it to the extreme. When they grade tests, they do it with utmost strictness and do not even bother to consider if the answers are correct or not. I’m sure that many of you know that for many teachers or lecturers, as long as you don’t have the answers they’re after, they won’t even care if you got it correctly.
If they taught you “The boy is going to the shop tomorrow”, then that better be what turns up on your tests, because if you end up writing “The boy will go to the shop tomorrow”, you’ve failed it. It won’t matter if you’re both saying the same thing.
You could be someone who is totally against cheating, but then, your disdain for the act is strictly directed at one gender. You could think you’re doing it right, but you’re just as guilty of the very same act.
So, as a result, it can be hard for things to totally be the way we want them to be or the way we believe they should be. Whether we like it or not, there will always be a gray area. There will always be that sweet spot where, if you take your time to think about it, you’ll find out that maybe they had a reason to do that particular thing. Understanding why someone did something doesn’t absolve them of the consequences of their actions, but it can be helpful in deciding the punishment and maybe even more helpful in eliminating the root cause of the action.
When you take a maths test, you’re never expected to have the exact answer that’s in the marking scheme. There is usually a ±.5 (I think) range where you can be allowed to wiggle free. So, if the answer is 4, you could have 4.4 and still be considered correct, just as with 3.98, you could also be considered correct. Provided you arrive at the answer through the method the teacher expects from you, you’ll be fine. If a teacher stubbornly keeps demanding 4 as an answer, many students will fail that exam, even though they shouldn’t have.
That’s just how life is. Even with crimes and punishment. That’s why in court cases, the reason is always important! For murder cases, they’d have to consider motive, also opportunity… they’d consider if it was a planned act or if it was a spur-of-the-moment act. Also, what did the perpetrator stand to gain by the murder? These things will play a huge role in what the punishment turns out to be. That’s why we have Murder 1, Murder 2, Manslaughter of several degrees… that’s why when two people kill, their punishment could be different.
If the punishment were rigid, many people would be in prison for years longer than they should have been. This is because even the justice system recognizes that, indeed, there are gray areas. Of course, humans being who they are, they’ve managed to find ways to exploit the gray areas, but that’s not the focus of this post. My focus is on those who, in their quest to do the “right thing”, end up indirectly doing it wrong and hurting others in the process.
Many times, we just have to take a step back and reassess the extent to which our actions have taken on others. Maybe then we’d be willing to give it another approach.
Thank you for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below, I would love to know what you’re thinking. Till we meet in the next post.
N.B: All images used in this post are mine. The thumbnail was designed using Canva.
Posted Using INLEO