Thursday, March 5, 2009

5 Kinds of Wrong

I was thinking this morning, for some odd reason, how many types of wrongdoing there are. Why I was thinking this is unclear, but I went with the flow anyway. This is what I came up with.
  1. Intentional - This is when someone does something they know to be wrong, unethical or illegal. Things like stealing, murder, and scams fall into this category. They know it and yet do it anyway, with intent.
  2. Ignorance - This is when someone does something wrong without knowing it is wrong and doesn't get caught or face a penalty though depending on what and where, it could happen. Things like cultural norms comes to mind, like certain things that would be insults in some countries or religions, but not considered such in that person's normal everyday existance.
  3. Unintentional - This is when a person does something they think is right, but turns out to be wrong. This could be an action or decision based on faulty or incomplete information. Something like throwing a surprise party for someone who hates parties or surprises. Or driving on the wrong side of the road in a foreign contry. There may or may not be penalties or ramifications for these but the intent was for good.
  4. Deliberate - This is slightly different from intentional. When you do something wrong because it is the best course of action at the time. There may or may not be fallout. This is the white lie to save someone from hurt feelings, or even in the extreme, stealing food to feed yourself or your family. You know its wrong and normally the person wouldn't, but circumstance dictates it is the best choice or the only option.
  5. Personal - This is when a person does something that only they know to be wrong for them, because of their beliefs or morals or religion or training or education. This only affects that person, no one else. No laws are broken, no hurt feelings, nothing outside of the individual. These are the little lies you tell yourself, the truths you won't admit, even the shortcuts you take to achieve an outcome. No one else will know you didn't paint the inside of your closet when you repainted the room. No on will know if you don't admit to yourself that your pants are getting tighter. Yet you know better and it weighs on you.

4 comments:

Lemuel said...

Very interesting and thought provoking.

Ur-spo said...

heavens you sound like a priest sorting through venial and mortal sins!

Ray's Cowboy said...

Fully agree with you. people need to try to be kinder to each other.
Ray

Anonymous said...

The Lenten season must be upon us. :-)

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