Ethics is easy when the lines are clear. Stealing is wrong. Helping someone in need is right. But what happens when two ethical principles collide, and no matter what you choose, something feels wrong? That is an ethical dilemma; when doing the right thing means also doing something wrong.
Let’s make this personal. Imagine you are driving a fully loaded truck down a steep road when the brakes fail. No matter what you do, you cannot stop. At the bottom of the hill, five people are crossing the road. If you do nothing, the truck will hit them. But there is a side road – if you swerve, you can avoid them.
There’s just one problem. There is one person standing on the side road, and if you turn, you will hit them instead.
Do you stay straight or swerve?
Now let’s make it harder. What if that one person is your spouse, your child, or someone you love more than life itself? Do you still swerve? Do five lives outweigh one when that one life is your world?
Ethical dilemmas strip away easy answers and force us to confront what we truly believe. They expose the fragile space where logic and love, duty and desire, collide.
This week’s question: “When doing the right thing feels wrong, how do you decide?”
Next week we will explore how different people justify their ethical decisions. . Subscribe and be part of this important conversation.
Think. Choose. Be.
