“Men of principle are always bold, but those who are bold are not always men of principle.”
–Confucius
The principles we live by are the foundation of our character, the guide for conducting our lives properly and a major source of our happiness. In the words of Henry Ward Beecher, “Expedients are for an hour, but principles are for the ages.”
If we base our lives on sound moral principles and faithfully adhere to them, we will not constantly be plagued by indecision. We will make decisions based on our principles–not on what seems to be most expedient for the moment.
No matter how principled a life we live, we will all come into contact with people who do not live by a code of ethical principles. Such people are often difficult to recognize, because they have no qualms about telling lies, or in other ways deceiving and misleading others. In fact, some of the least principled people are so skilled at deception that they may appear to be highly principled.
There is not much that we can do about other people’s principles other than to guard against being taken advantage of by them. But we are in control of the principles we live by, and we set the standards by which we will judge our own conduct. If we want to be happy and respected, we will set strict rules by which to live our lives and follow those rules religiously.
Living by the Golden Rule, “Do to others as you would have them do to you,” is the surest way for people of good principle to know they are living their lives the way God would have them live. My mother, who always lived by the Golden Rule, had a simple philosophy of life. When people complimented her for being such a good and compassionate person, she always responded with the same words: “I just try to do what I think God would want me to do.”
Many people who want to live good lives often falter because of confusion over what is the right thing to do at any given point in time. As we interact with other people in our everyday lives, we too often get caught up in the urge to be popular with those around us. In our effort to achieve that goal, we frequently allow the wishes of others to motivate our actions.
Often we are tempted to bend our principles a little just to get along with other people. There is nothing wrong with trying to please others as long as we stay within the boundaries of our principles. But once we cross the boundary and begin going along with things that we feel are wrong, just to keep the peace, it will be hard to get back within the boundaries and stay there. It is more important to be true to our principles than it is to please other people, and if we violate our principles to please others, we will almost certainly displease ourselves.
Think about it.
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Visit Allen’s website at www.allenwsmith.com or e-mail him at ironwoodas@aol.com.
Copyright 2015
Allen W. Smith
