Day 29: My Personal Code

Everyone has a sort of moral guideline. Your sense of right and wrong. How you determine what to stand up for, and what to give up on.

For this one, I wanted to share mine.

It's not very complex, it's not very wide, I can boil it down to two words;

Be empathetic.

Life is hard and it's going to be a lot harder if we can't put ourselves in each other's shoes. It's easy to forget that the person on the other side is also a human being, a person, and people are easy. We all don't want to suffer, we want what's best for our friends and families, we have a sense of self-preservation, and we really hate being wrong about things.

If there's one trait I think we need more than any other, it's empathy. Because we have to be better to each other. I wanna be better to other people. I don't want to do anything to anyone that I wouldn't want them to do to me. I don't like pain, I don't want to cause anyone else pain. I don't like suffering, I don't want to make anyone suffer. I don't like being hated, I don't want to hate anyone.

People often ask where an atheist's sense of morality comes from and if you've ever heard someone stutter to answer, it's simple; the innate human ability to empathise with another human being. To look at someone else, see their situation and say, I understand, were I where you are I too would act as you do.

I know, no rule is hardfast, nothing is concrete. There are some people you can never empathise with. There are some people you can't even begin to understand.

But if you treat everyone like they're your fellow human beings, maybe the world becomes a slightly better place.