There was a time when I believed, that the end really justifies the means, if only from a certain point of view. And still the concept seems right, as when you look back from a distance – all we can remember, all that are recorded, all that is taught and praised and passed down throughout history – is the glorious deeds that the heroes and leaders in the past have done; the history pays little attention to the means they used to achieve those ends. At that time I used to argue with myself that since no one is prefect, if we measure everyone not only by the deeds but also by the extreme means some of them used to achieve those deeds, we would basically have no heroes – and since there must be heroes in our world, their actions must be justifiable in some way.
What I failed to realize then, was that heroes are not meant to be worshipped. Heroes exist as nothing but a symbol of wisdom, justice, courage, might, strength, or compassion – they showed us what is possible, of what could be done to make the world a better place – nevertheless, they themselves are nothing but a symbol, an image. Thus the inevitable question arises: what exactly are we worshipping, the qualities that the symbols represent, or … the symbols? And I think the answer is obvious. Despite the fact that those people are admirable, ultimately, people are not their behaviors; and by doing the exact things that they have done, we would essentially lose our true selves; and that’s probably the last thing on earth that we would ever want.
However the answer above essentially means that the ends never really justify the means, which is the equivalent of saying:
The results obtained from using unethical methods could never justify the means, for a simple reason: we have no rights to sacrifice a life that is not ours to sacrifice, even in the name of peace and justice, even in the name of the greater good. To put it in another way, a “sacrifice” forced by others can never be called a real sacrifice, because the pure spirit of humanity, of compassion and love is missing; moreover, the forced act itself is nothing but a blatant disregard for human rights, a tyrannical way to force one’s will upon others. Although some might argue that as long as the end is good, all that has been done to achieve the end has to be morally justifiable as well – but what we’re losing in the process, is the essence of who we are as decent humans. And that, for me personally, is the strongest reason to believe that unethical methods can never be used to achieve an end with perfect harmony.
To conclude this essay, I would like to repeat the fundamental truth that has guided me so far: Human beings are not machines; we have the responsibility, the right and the power to choose what we do, to choose whether to make the self-sacrifices, in order to help others and contribute to the society; but we do not have the right to control the behaviors of others. And personally I think that’s exactly where the line should be drawn.
Updated at November 26 20:50 CST