Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Interpersonal Morality

My right to hit you stops where you begin,
And killing you is clearly doing wrong;
To take what you won't give me is a sin;
But what one rule says none of these belong?

The answer is a principle of choice
That separates the healthy from what's ill.
The time has come to give it simple voice:
What's wrong to others weakens their free will.

It's funny that it's simple and still true
Yet measured by this rubric, all our laws
And principles inevitably do
Require we take this freedom's basic cause.

And so, next time you wonder, "is it right?"
Just ask yourself, whose free will does it touch,
And does it help or hinder someone's fight
To exercise free will without a crutch?

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