Gray Areas

Merriam Webster defines the word “Tenet” as follows:

“A principle, belief, or doctrine generally held to be true; especially one held in common by members of an organization, movement, or profession.”

The qualifying clause, “especially one held in common by members of an organization, movement, or profession” suggests that principles and beliefs can vary between communities. Of course we all know this to be true but there are also fixed, universal tenets that translate across cultures and communities. They are not beliefs so much as they are universal laws of nature that most of us clearly see as black and white. A few examples of such universal laws are stated in almost every religion. The Ten Commandments of the Bible, the Precepts of Buddhism and the Koran all speak reminders that we should neither lie, cheat, steal or kill, just to name a few.

But there are also more confusing universal truths that aren’t so clearly delineated. Instead they are gray areas that many of us choose to interpret (often erroneously) at our own discretion. For some reason, Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing” comes to mind. It was the first time a movie confronted me with a conflict where I respected both sides of two dueling point of views. For those of you who didn’t see the movie, the central story involves an Italian owned pizzeria in a predominately African-American neighborhood. Because the pizzeria’s livelihood depends largely on its African-American clientele, there are customers who want African-Americans represented on the owner’s renowned “Wall of Fame” where photos of renowned Italians are prominently displayed.

In my mind, the customers’ request was well within reason. But the owner, as sole proprietor felt entitled to arrange his “Wall of Fame” as he saw fit, which was also quite reasonable. Of course, major conflict ensued ending in the unfortunate death of a central character. So, who was right and what could these characters have done differently in order to “Do The Right Thing?” Today, I realize the answer is quite simple. They could both have chosen to respect their fellow man. Had the African-American character chosen to respect the pizzeria owner’s prerogative to arrange his wall of photos as he pleased, or had the pizzeria owner chosen to respect the clientele that allowed his business to thrive, there would have been no problem.

Today, it seems many universal laws have fallen victim to legislation and special interests. As a society, we need to do better at fine-tuning our internal moral compasses, with an understanding not only of the black and white areas, but of the gray ones as well. All too often, I have heard, “it’s not against the law” as if this were carte blanche to do the wrong thing. Because it isn’t illegal, does this suggest it isn’t wrong or unethical? In theory, laws are written to regulate people who are otherwise incapable of regulating themselves. It is up to each of us to do better in the gray areas, not only to discern right from wrong but also to then regulate ourselves appropriately. We do ourselves a disservice when we dedicate this responsibility to lawmakers who often don’t understand the difference themselves.