Inextricably Bound
May 20, 2008
Ethics
(2 comments)
By Mike Sims
Living an ethical life and Reform Judaism’s imperative to engage in acts of tikkun olam are inextricably bound. How can you say that you are committed to repairing the world if you destroy the lives of others through deceit? The first step toward making the world a better place is to make your own life, your part of the world, an ethical place.
If I were to write my children an ethical will, the first thing I would tell them is that very often big crimes start out as small misdeeds. I don’t believe the folks at Enron woke up one day and said, “Let’s commit massive fraud.” Rather, I suspect it started with a few small deals that may or may not have been “technically” legal and snowballed into a mess that bankrupted a company and ruined the lives of thousands of employees and investors.
I recall the impassioned argument I once had with a friend about whether it was right to pay for one movie at the multiplex and then stay for two or even three movies. My friend argued that once you paid to get in you should be able to stay in. Plus, she said, “they expect us to do it, and they charge too much for popcorn and soda anyway.” Remember, I told her, “we paid for one movie and got what we paid for, even if it cost too much.”
Small ethical acts can make a big difference—for the good or the bad. I choose to make them for the good.
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I have done the movie hopping thing before and I never felt good about it, so I am very choosy about witch movies I actually go to the theater to see because the price is really high. it is true the cost of refreshments is way to high at the movies, supposedly it's to keep th cost of movie admissions down and by seeing more than one movie that you payed for you are less likely to come back an pay to see the movie thrust driving the price of movie admission up. but the reality is that most people who do that wouldn't have come back any way. how many people will go to a theater and pay to see every movie , I suspect not many. ethically it is not justified to to see another movie when you only paid for one. my point of view is that if your friend feels that the movies to expensive they should not go thus not supporting such an unethical system.