Patryk Romanowski

English - 1
4/1/19
10 Rules to Live By

Ethics is something everyone will live by, regardless of who you are there are
imaginary rules in your head that you may live by. Ethics can also bring about justice,
my definition of justice is when everything is set and square. This can be seen as you are
entitled to a set of rights and if you are proven innocent or proved that you were
wronged in some way you are entitled to some compensation. Justice can also be dealt
when you break a set of ethics imaginary or not.

I believe I operate under the Virtue Framework is notable for being a good person
or wanting to bring out good consequences, it is about acting like a person with
standards would act in that situation. For example, in the trolly problem, you are faced
with either killing one person or five, but the catch is the trolly is already going to hit the
five people and the only way to stop it is by changing the track and killing the one
person. You are an outsider in this situation and all you see is the lever, a person with
the Virtue Framework would do nothing because pulling the one level and killing one
person means you just killed a man, but doing nothing means you just say a horrible
unstoppable incidence. Pulling that lever is no different than shooting and killing that
man yourself regardless of the other possible outcome. With this, my set of 10 rules are
guided with not causing unnecessary misery or guided as what a person should be or do.

For starters Rule 1 Arm Yourself, no matter how much of an angel you are there
are others who are not, no matter how well known you are in the community or loved by
others there are still devils in this world. Having something that can protect you and
your loved ones is important, and having that protection doesn't mean you have to use it
whenever someone looks at you funny. A weapon is like a life insurance policy, you pray
that you never have to use it, but if something goes wrong you’re glad it’s there. Also in
the words of Gandhi “There is no shame in deterrence. Having a weapon is very
different from actually using it”. Meaning an advocate of peace saw the need for
weapons even in his country. Arming yourself is seen as an action that will not produce
the most good and may cause some people to be wary of you, but in the event where
danger is three feet in front of you and the nearest policeman is a mile away, you may
need to take the matter into your own hands.
 Another rule to go over is Rule 2, and 3 of keeping in touch with friends, and be
involved. I feel that these two rules are important for your mental health and help to be
a part of other people lives. Staying in touch of friends make lonely times in your life be
less lonely because I believe that at the end of your life the only thing I would want is to
be surrounded by people who generally care for me, not massive amounts of wealth.
Also being involved not only means caring for your friends but also know what is
happening in your community. This one connects to the Virtue Framework by telling us
how we should be, we should be active and be a part of everyone lives regardless of the
situation.

Additionally Rule 4 and 5 of knowing when to stop and thinking how your actions
affect others. I feel that knowing when to stop as is similar or can we placed together
with stopping yourself from pursuing unneeded actions. This can connect back to the
trolly problem, knowing that pulling that level will kill an innocent man is an example of
thinking about how your actions affect others. Something that is critical in the Virtue
Framework, also knowing when to stop is stopping yourself from pulling that lever, even
though fewer people will due, it will just bring in misery you caused.

Going forward, Rule 6 and 7 of being a Gentleman and Do No Harm can both be
seen as blanket statements. Being a Gentleman can be interpreted as being truthful,
don’t steal, or even do unneeded harm. Being a Gentleman can mean so many things
and can even bring in the second code of ethics that would require a whole second set of
rules just too accurately explain it in detail. Basically just a faster way of saying be a
normal functioning member of society. I feel that this is a rule that should come from
just basic thought and needs no further explanation. With this being fair and do no
harm can be applied to justice. Justice needs to be applied and dealt with.

Just a few more, rule 8 and 9 take what you need and don’t steal. Taking only
what you need in times of crisis can be seen as preventing unwanted misery. Remember
that movie a Wonderful Life, there's a scene when the main characters own a bank and
during the stock market crash, the bank may go out of business if everyone chooses to
withdraw all of their money. Taking only what you need in this situation will prevent
unnecessary misery. Additionally stealing would be against fair justice, also causing
unnecessary harm.
 The last one, rule 10 have pride in yourself, something that is reassuring. When
living by these rules you must also be contempt with them. Some people will look at
these rules and see the lunatic ramblings of a mad man and try and convey you to a
different set of rules. I’m not saying that change is bad, but straying too far from your
values will change your framework. This rule acts and the glue that holds your other
rules in place.

When developing my list, I was criticizing in my peer review that my rules were
seen as working more from myself and not seen as ways that I give back to my
community or others. This was true and 7 of my rules had to be revised to seen
beneficial not only to myself , but also to others. My new list was developed around how
I already see how people should live in today's society or what I see a decent human
being means.

In conclusion, I think if I would live by these rules now I am unsure of what

would be the outcome. I know I would be involved in other people's lives more and I
would be seen as trustworthy. But if everyone was living under this rule set, I can see a
society where the crime rate is zero to none, and some of my rules would be seen as
obsolete. If the world is nothing but angles, there will be no need to arm yourself. The
devils are gone, my ruleset was focused on living in our current world, a world where
there are devils and actions of kind people are needed. In this utopian society their some
of my rules set is unneeded and everyone is just brought to a similar standard of living.