March 25, 2009
Me? Ethical?
THOUGHT I’D SHARE THIS WITH YOU GUYS…
I would say that one of my major life achievements is to live an ethical life free of conflict or negativity. In my attempts to live my life conflict-free I find myself in a boring cycle of repetition where consistency define my existence and so in an attempt to ‘spice up’ my life – disaster!
Picture this scenario, I wake up every morning at, say, 7 p.m. then do the necessaries and end up in class 10 minutes before the lecturer. Every day I follow this pattern until one day I wake up at 8 and a feeling of disappointment hits me and reminds me of how much I have failed…. Then picture this second scenario, today I wake up at 7, go to class 5 minutes before the lecturer. Tomorrow, I wake up at 8.30 and who knows what time I will get to class. Of course my life lies in the latter where many are the times I make the lecturer cross due to my tardiness. So I guess I fail in living an ethical life at least in the mornings.
So how I begin my mornings could be unethical, but at least I pride myself in doing my work, both academic and personal, following set ethical guidelines. This may include being faithful to do assignments, do them on time, and hand in quality work earned from my own sweat! Well, thinking about it, I do hand in my assignments and apart from the few errors here and there I would say I got the quality and hard work part covered. However, do I keep faithful to time constraints? Well, at least I try…a question here…is trying to be ethical being ethical? Does the saying, ‘it’s the thought that counts’, apply in this case?
I have a feeling I am being a bit too harsh on myself. Being a writer, there are things that I am ethically bound from doing and so I try and avoid them like the plague. Libel, plagiarism, deceit, propaganda…all these big words and yet my attempts to live an ethical life are drenched by the fact that I always lose when it comes to racing with time. Time, good old Grandfather Clock so old yet I never win, I guess life is the unethical party and I am the victim. Look at it this way, I cannot win in some situations. I have to do what I have to do when I have to do and since life, or time in particular, seems to mind caring how I handle my doings, it becomes unethical since the bar set is usually unrealistic and unfair. Unlucky me however, since the world is full of judgmental ethica-holics who live in that boring cycle I mentioned earlier.
Am I ethical? Maybe, maybe not…all I know is as long as I do not step on some toes…too hard, then I am good to go. So since you’ve read this you tell me am I ethical or am I not?
Vile tuna feel 
Muraya said,
March 30, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Kariuki, if time determines if you are ethical or not, I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you are far from being ethical.
I can follow your trail of thought on this piece, some areas I had to re-read because I am abit exhausted after a long day but generally I take your meaning. You need to (I am also a victim of this) proof read your work because you let quite afew errors through (my favorite is when you wake up early morning, say, 7pm…). It makes you lose writers credibility.
I generally like your piece esp because you are really trying to convince yourself that you are ethical. Maybe you are, I do not know.
Georgia said,
March 30, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Kefa, I’ve read quite a number of your pieces and I feel you rushed through this one. Not that it’s a bad piece, don’t get me wrong. As I read through it I got the sense of a student commissioned to post something on the blog and he’s under pressure to beat the deadline such that he quickly puts something together and voila,there you have it! Maybe it’s a harsh assumption stemming from your confession in paragraph two about your tardiness.
This piece is ok though. I understand your dilemma with ethics and how time always manages to win. I especially liked your opening statement. Your language is rich save for some silly mistakes(yes Kefa, am sure your computer has the Spell Check tool!)
All the same, this was a great read. I can identify with it because I too struggle with moral choices.
xpress436 said,
March 31, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Ed
I have to agree with Georgia. It seems you had something really great to say but didn’t take a lot of time to proofread it.
You have a point though. We all try to be ethical in our own way though I wouldn’t say we succeed most of the time.
xpress436 said,
April 1, 2009 at 12:17 pm
MINAH.
I like your style of writing Kefa. Shauri yako whether you are ethical or not!
One os free to do as they please, but it is unethical if these freedoms infringe on others, for example annoying lecturers by going late to class. Also remember, old habits die hard. And oh! who says that following a routine is boring?
A good piece of writing can be spoilt by errors. Please take your time to proof read.
Otherwise, this piece is written in way that reflects your own stlye. I believe this is a good piece, i have enjoyed reading it.
Good work!