What is Right?

The other day I was endlessly surfing across channels on the idiot box and finally succumbed to the Oprah show. I am not an avid fan of Oprah, however, every now and then I get interested in the day’s topic. On that day the topic was “what would you do if you saw someone NOT doing the right thing?” Removing the negative it translates to what would we do if we saw someone doing something wrong. Well the thinker in me got to work. My train of thought started its long haul of chugging along… So, WHAT do we interpret as wrong? Telling a lie? Shoplifting? Politicians all riled up in a day’s work of making money? (or rather, on holiday thanks to the tax payer’s money?) Have we done something with the reasoning ‘anyway it will not HARM anyone’ or ‘it’s just for fun?’ Else, should we “define” right? We must remember that, what may be right for one may not be right for another. I have composed a list of points that I have often thought about. These points are in line with the question “is it right?” and are derived from real life situations. Still, I must sadly report that most times this thought ends up with me turning my head from side to side and saying tch tch tch and nothing more: Is it right that pedophiles and murderers of little children get away scot-free from the courts? Is it right that a family member escapes punishment AND goes through life normally because a child does not have the courage to open up about being sexually abused? Is it right that a person abandons their children because they have found the perfect spouse with whom they want to spend the rest of their life? Is it right that a child is found in a dustbin because SHE was born of a gender of which the mother or family did not approve? Is it right that a mother has to feed, clothe, and bring up her children (without support) for the rest of her life because her husband is interested in alcohol, more than them? Is it right that a child born into one family gets all the facilities that another can only dream about? Is it right that a person is uncomfortable to go to work whenever a security threat happens because people abuse the community and not the individual who did wrong? Is it right that an unborn child or toddler has to start smoking (second hand) because their parent has not given them a choice? Is it right that a child has a parent who is an alcoholic and never complains for fear of being sent to an orphanage? Is it right that children start working and lose their childhood because someone wants to earn extra money? Is it right that children are maimed or intentionally hurt because that will give their “owner” another beggar who will make them more money? Is it right that newly-married women use their power in the courts to falsely accuse hardworking and honest men of dowry harassment only to make quick money? Is it right for one spouse to get into wife swapping, even after saying vows to their spouse, because everyone they know is doing it? Is it right that a husband talks to people at work more than his wife because he has nothing to say to her after all the years of marriage? Is it right that a wife goes out on dates because her husband (and provider) is at work all the time? I wonder… Are there answers to this on-going list of points? Or, are they merely cars in one train of thought?