Black or White: I See Grey

Hello everyone!  My name is Angela, and I would like to welcome you to my blog.  I am a graduate student through Troy University, and I am currently working toward my Master of Public Administration.  I am starting this blog to take a closer look at ethical dilemmas and issues that arise within public administration.  I live in South Korea with my husband, and we both work on the military installation.  I am a Department of the Army Civilian and he is Active Duty.

Ethics is one of my favorite subjects to discuss because there is not always a clearly defined "right" and "wrong" answer to the question at hand.  Instead of viewing choices as simply "black or white," we really need to consider the "grey" possibilities.  Society undoubtedly has its own set of norms that people adhere to, but when a topic concerning an ethical dilemma gets brought to the table, debates often ensue.  I enjoy a good debate, and I look forward to challenging comments that really make me think about my own beliefs.  I am on a journey to figure out how to act in the utmost ethical manner, especially in a leadership role.  So let's get started.

This week our assigned readings covered the foundations that coincide with ethics in public administration.  This touched on everything from the relevance of ethics to the "poppycock" of it all (if you're as unfamiliar with that term as I was, it simply refers to the myths that are associated with ethics).  In the upcoming weeks I will be discussing the individual and the institutional ethical approaches, as well as the dilemmas that arise from them.  To wrap the blog up, I will be discussing the key issues that I find within public service.  I plan on supplementing those with actual scenarios that I encounter in regards to ethical dilemmas, as well as ethical issues in movies that I watch throughout the next few months. 

At work this week I received an email that stated that everyone had to comply with the attached "Living the Army Ethic: Why & How We Serve" training.  How convenient for this topic, right?  The Army pushes out trainings on a regular basis, so this was nothing new, but the fact that this week’s training was on ethics definitely peaked my interest.  Anyway, the training consisted of opening the attachment, and clicking on the link that was provided to watch a short video on why we serve.  Ethics truly do have a valuable place in everything that we do.  If you would like to check out the video, here is the link: http://cape.army.mil/videos/living-the-army-ethic-why-and-how-we-serve. 

This week in my graduate course we were instructed to take a philosopher quiz to determine which philosopher we identify with most.  I was hoping that I would get a well-known, influential philosopher as my match--such as Socrates or Plato.  That was not the case, though.  Instead, I was matched with someone who I had never heard of before: Nel Noddings.  It turns out, though, that she is actually quite fascinating.  She is like the Mother Teresa of the philosophy world.  I say that because her philosophy is primarily about helping and caring for people!  How does that relate to me?  Well, I have always thought of myself as a "helpful" person, and I like to take care of people.  Is it wrong of me to admit that I like it when my husband is not feeling well because I get to take care of him?  Sorry, Kyle!  That is just it, though: I love being able to help people when they need it!  It is almost like I was born with this burning desire inside me to be a life-long helper to anyone in need, or was this something that I have learned to be over the years?

That brings me to my next question concerning the long-standing “nature versus nurture” debate.  Where do you stand on this topic?  I have positioned myself pretty firmly on the "nurture" side, and I believe that ethics and morals are the result of societal influences and interactions, as opposed to purely nature.  Sure, genetics may have something to do with it.  I am not eliminating that possibility.  However, I think it is undeniable that nurture plays the more significant role.  I would be interested to hear what you think on this debate!

If you found my page through a roundabout manner, here is the URL in case you would like to come back for future posts: www.ACloserLookAtEthics.blogspot.com.  Please feel free to leave comments and debate the ethical topics with me.  I will be updating my blog every week.  Thank you for visiting my site!