articulate a personal code of ethics

My brother has a good sense of what is right and wrong. So basically, I beleive if I follow the same principles as my brother I will become a better person.
My brother would:
-never cheat on exams/assignments or help people to cheat
-never act sleazy or cheat on his girlfriend
-never take drugs
-never steal
-never get into a fight

I think I must remember that there are no excuses if one does the wrong thing. They must admit to it and then try to never do that thing. When you break your personal code of ethics you are lowering yourself however when you follow your code you can immediately hold your head high and have self respect.

more than any words I could write
explain some of my motivations in
everyday life
Many things are quite simple and require little effort
except to care

I’ve identified that I can’t live a happy complete existence without some combination of the four:

Passion
Makes me feel alive, I need it like I need food for my body. I sense it when I’m dancing, when I’m playing an instrument, when I’m dizzy from a beautiful piece of writing…It’s my joy, but it’s also my rage and deep sorrows that fill my life up with intensity and vibrancy. It’s what I lost for many years, and without it, I am a living corpse, going through the motions of a life I don’t want to claim as my own.

Freedom
Freedom to express, to desire, to live…I’ve paid a heavy toll to gain this inalienable God given right, and I’d pay a heavier one yet, if it came down to it. What is a life, if you’re not free to live it?

Love
All love, familial, friendship, romantic play a role in making life a comfortable safe place full of flowers and sunshine and light, where before there were dark unfamiliar corners with dangerous strangers. It is the essence of all other gifts.

Truth
If you can’t be honest about the way you live, you are simply stuck in a cage of your own making. The lies always end up tangling and choking you in the end anyway, so I set this as a personal value that I answer to as readily and openly as I can, bearing the responsibility it brings and relishing the inward satisfaction of living a life with integrity.

Passion. Freedom. Love. Truth.

I am more interested in the people on the fringes than those that are cool and popular…it’s my style…it’s my taste…it’s where I came from and where I can do the most good…If my experience can give someone young who is drowning in life’s problems a glimmer of hope…then so be it…time well spent and advice well given…

But I believe too..
Linkin Park “Great Divide”

I remember black skies the lightning all around me
I remembered each flash as time began to purr
like a startling sign that fate had finally found me
and your voice was all I heard that I get what I deserve

so give me reason to prove me wrong to wash this memory clean
let the floods cross
the distance in your eyes
give me reason to fill this hole connect the space between
let it fill up to reach the truth and realize and cross this new divide

there was something inside the memory’s left abandoned
there was no where to hide the ashes fell like snow
and the ground caved in between where we were standing
and your voice was all i heard that i get what i deserve

so give me reason to prove me wrong to wash this memory clean
let the floods cross
the distance in your eyes across this new divide

(Instrumental)

in every lost
in every lie
in every truth that you deny
and each regret and each divide with some mistakes that makes you hide
and your voice was all i heard that i get what i deserve

so give me reason to prove me wrong to wash this memory clean
let the floods cross
the distance in your eyes
give me reason to fill this hole connect the space between
let it fill up to reach the truth and realize and cross this new divide

cross this new divide
cross this new divide

My first start will be to create one, then examine on a daily basis.

Will be in touch.

new additions…

1. Notice and acknowledge those who may need a hand…first priority goes to the unnoticed and forgotten…the meek and nearly invisible…

2. Even a word may help…say (or type) one or a series of them…

I’m frustrated with myself this week. I’ve had a lapse in my effort to stop being so self centered and individualistic. I didn’t stop to consider someone who means so much to me. I…. don’t know…my sense of right and wrong failed me the other night. I may have damaged a relationship that was starting to be really important to me and I’m afraid that the guilt will never go away. That this will never repair. That I will never know the full extent of how much I hurt this person. I’d rather have done something that only affected myself.

I’ve been thinking about this one a while and realised I should go ahead and write it. It’s not something that has to be set in stone for all time – if I have things to add or change I’ll come back to it. So here it is:

To work towards living according to the bit of me (and of all people) that instinctively knows how to be. To aim for true humanness, connectedness…
and in the absense of that perfect instinct to use the following as guides for my living…

Be honest

Have awareness… speak and act with intent, and with true consideration of other people and my environment

Remind myself often what I am and what I’m part of

Look after myself

Work for something that I believe in