Robin Hood Ethics

When you're young, ethical behavior was black and white: stealing - bad; God - good; swearing - bad; helping others - good; homosexuality - bad; church - good; abortion - bad; priests - good. Our elders tell us what is bad and what is good, and we believe them. Because they are our elders, so of course they're right. We take it all for face value and move on with our lives.

But what happens when our brains develop enough to where we can begin thinking for ourselves? When "Robin Hood" ethics take over: when stealing from the rich and giving it to those who have nothing might not be so bad after all? What happens when your friends and cousin are gay? When your brothers and best friends don't go to church? When your teachers and those you look up to don't believe in God and priests are caught doing horrible things? Suddenly we no longer have our black-and-white childhood to fall back on. Everything is a varied shade of gray: some things still almost completely black and others mostly white, but nothing is absolute in its ethical standing, and more often than not, things are a dreary, confusing shade of gray, right in the middle of black and white, bad and good. What do we do then?

For some people this moment never seems to come. They continue on with their childhood ethics system, either because they are miraculously blessed with immediate communication with God or because their system was never tested or they just blind themselves to the tests and obstinately insist that they are right and there is no need to even think about where they may be wrong. In some ways I envy these people. I miss knowing right away what is right and what is wrong. When people ask me what I believe, I'd like to be able to tell them: A is good, B is bad, C is unspeakable. But I can't, because the fact is I don't know what I believe, and it's all Robin Hood's fault.

He's made me think about things. He's introduced me to different viewpoints and new ideas; different ways of thinking. And some of them make a whole lot of sense, even though they are sometimes polar opposites of what I was raised to think in my black and white world. Jewish law says abortion is not only legal, but sometimes it is legally mandated. Because the Jews believe that life begins with the first breath, since Adam was created when God breathed the breath of life into him. So until that baby is born, it is important, but not as important as the mother's life, because she is already breathing. So if the mother's life is in jeopardy, the pregnancy must be terminated, according to Jewish law. In general, I agree that abortion is bad. But sometimes, there may be circumstances where it is necessary, or at least something to consider. What if a single mother with three children is raped, and giving birth to the rapist's child will result in complications that will kill her, sending her three living children into a fatally flawed foster care system which will turn them out at the age of 18 to fend for themselves, perhaps even before they've graduated from high school? Are the unborn baby's rights greater than those of the mother and her three children?

To some extent, I can see the importance of bringing the abortion debate into politics, even though it is a largely moral issue. If you believe that personhood begins at conception, then it is important to stand up for the unborn child's rights. I am not denying that, and to some extent I sympathize with it. But things like homosexuality--whether you believe it's right or wrong, it's not hurting anyone. What happened to Jesus's teaching: "Let the one among you who is free from sin throw the first stone." If it is a sin, (and I'm not convinced it is, personally), then that is between that person and God. But what about the sanctity of marriage and the family, some people ask. I don't know. I'm not that worried about it. Maybe I should be, but I'm not. I think that within the Church, it isn't an issue. They will never allow gay marriage (and I'm not saying they should, either.) But as far as homosexuals having the same rights and privileges in the political world, I see no harm.

I guess the moral (no pun intended) of all of this, is that I am helplessly lost and confused about what is right and what is wrong. I have some convictions, but they are far from concrete.  And actually, I'm not sure that I would have it any other way. Because despite the confusion and frustration, I think it is generally a good thing to be open to different ideas and ways of thinking. Once you're "sure" about something, you fall into the closed-minded ways that allowed slavery and other racially or socio-economically motivated injustices to take such widespread control of today's societies. I hope I never fall into that trap.

And yet, I wish I knew where I stood. Is it wrong to be too open minded? Am I overcompensating for my uncertainties and "sinning" in ways that I should know better than to do? Am I becoming too defensive and closed minded against the Church, when I really only want to remain a little bit distanced, a little bit unsure? Has Robin Hood taken too complete a hold on my ethics, to the point where I'm sliding too far the other way? Am I a God-forsaken liberal Commie, as I've been told? I like to think I'm not. But really, who knows?