The Right Thing

"In the face of war, social injustice, religious conflict, corporate greed, what difference can one person make? Why should one person even try to make a difference? The odds are so overwhelming. It's pointless."

Frankly, that doesn't matter. We do what is right simply because that is what it is—right.

I don't strike another person because I think that action will lead to the end of violence, but because not hitting another person is the right thing to do. I don't refrain from lying to my spouse because I think my actions will convince everyone to be honest, but because being truthful in any relationship is the right way to behave. I don't cheat a customer because I know he'll never find out and I get tired of having to work with all these foreigners, but because treating all people equally and with respect is the right way to interact with others.

And I refrain from wrongdoing, because even if no one finds out the harm I have done, even if my wrong actions have absolutely no effect on others or the world, what I might have done was simply wrong.