Fifty on Friday #6

Man, I just didn't have a chance to get this done last week. I'm still getting used to the whole "split days off" thing, so getting just one day off at a time has left me feeling draaaaaained. I had the answers mostly finished, hand-written, just didn't make the time to finish them and get them scheduled on to here....

I'm doing that "complaining instead of getting Fifty on Friday done" thing again, aren't I? Right, then... We're past the halfway point, so... GERONIMO!

#21: Would you rather be a worried genius or a joyful simpleton?
Well, I'm closer to worried genius more of the time, so it might be nice to experience the other side of it. Personally, though, I'd rather be a worried genius. My intelligence is important to me, and sometimes being smart causes me to worry. Not so much lately, since I've decided to have an outlook that doesn't stress me out, though.

#23: Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?
To most of my friends, I hope that I can honestly say yes. Nobody's perfect, though, and I'll admit that I haven't always kept in touch as much as I should. For that, I apologize. As to other friend-behaviors, I can say "Yes", definitely. I've never stolen from my friends, I've been completely honest to them, and I like to think that I've at least offered help when it was needed, even if they didn't accept.

#10: Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
Do the two of these have to be considered mutually exclusive? I'd like to be able to do the right things, and do them right; that's what I typically worry about. But, if I had to choose, I'd say I tend to worry more about doing the right things, sometimes to the detriment of the "right" way that I want to do things.

#36: Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?
This is sort of a loaded question. Initially, I would want to answer "yes", because we all know that murder is bad, and theft is bad, and lying is also bad. Except when they aren't.

What if your life, or the life of someone you love, is in danger, and your choice is "kill or be killed"? Even the law has language that allows for self-defense, however controversial those things are. What if not-stealing means that you can't eat, or that your kids can't? If the choices are "steal a loaf of bread" or "die of starvation", I doubt that many would judge that person for their crime. And if the lie that you tell saves your life, or someone else's?

The simple fact is that good is usually good, and evil is usually evil. But not 100% of the time, because the factors that lead to the actions matter a lot in how that action is perceived.

#13: Would you break the law to save a loved one?
This ties in perfectly with the last question. To answer shortly, yes, I probably would. It depends on what the situation is.