Moral Compass

 The Definition

Moral compasses

A set of beliefs or values that help guide ethical decisions, judgments, and behavior: an internal sense or your personal set of beliefs and values regarding right and wrong.

Morals aren't fixed. They may change as you face new experiences in life, gain knowledge, or cope with hardships. Everyone's moral compass is unique.

A moral compass helps people make ethical decisions by helping to determine which actions would help or harm others, society, or the environment. It also helps people see how their actions can have consequences for other people and cultures.

So, how's your moral compass?

From my earliest childhood recollections living in the big city like Jakarta, I remember the lessons taught to me by my father and my mother: be a good kid, do what your elders tell you to do, stay out of trouble, including be nice to your big sister despite both of your age difference and always eating your vegetables every day.

As I grew, I attended church and Sunday school, where I received additional guidance that I have used throughout my life. At that time, the Ten Commandments were a lot for a small child to comprehend, but the Golden Rule just made so much sense:

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. 

Later, I went off to the US to get my degree in business. Since my father already passed away while I was in the 4th grade, my mother, as a single parent, can only support me for the first 2 years, therefore I need to work while studying. Luckily for me, I have a community with several Indonesian students that helped and supported me during that time.

While working and studying in the US, I discovered that the majority of the people I knew—including my closest friends—were either members of the Pattiasina family or other friends who were helping settle during in the US, or else other American friends and coworkers had their own beliefs about what it meant to be a professional and ethical person in the real world.

Throughout my years as a formal employee in the US and my decades of career development in several corporations in Indonesia, having with my several mentors, I tried to always keep my Code of Ethics to guide my professional and personal life.

The world we live in is not the one I was born into. Times have changed so much, and what society allows is much different today than back then. When I was a younger man, your name, your reputation, and your word meant something. Being a junior, I also carried my big family's good name, so that also mattered in the town where I was born. Doing what's right is always the best thing to do.

Today, it seems that all those great attributes and ideals that I strove to attain for all these years are not as important to some folks as the monetary gain one might acquire at the expense of others.

Just because something is not illegal does not mean that it is not unethical, immoral, or goes against public welfare.

How you conduct your life and your career is how you’ll be judged in the end. Your moral compass.

How you want that story to be written is totally up to you and the decisions you make in your career and all other aspects of your life.

At the end of 2023, try to understand that it is not happiness that makes us grateful. But gratitude is what will make us happy. 2023 Wasn't My Best Year, but I Learned a Lot.

There is a great quote below,

Cheers.....