Introduction

Morality matters to me. From the time that I was very young, I have always been enthralled by the idea of right and wrong. That isn't to say that I think of myself as more righteous or moral than anyone else; maybe a better way to phrase it is to say that I'm more moral-minded than most: for whatever reason, I’ve always been intrigued about our obligations as human beings. And it's this motivation that's driven most of the important choices I've made in my life: my interest in the subject explains my taking part in Lincoln-Douglas debate and mock trial in high school; majoring in philosophy at Princeton; writing my senior thesis under Anthony Appiah on the subject of moral responsibility and blame my senior year; and heading off to Michigan Law as the next step to what will hopefully be a career in public service.

And so, out of this quasi-obsession with an academic subject few people rarely pay much attention to outside of their church, synagogue, mosque or temple, I’ve decided to write down some thoughts as they come up in my everyday musings.

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Two brief notes. First of all, a disclaimer: this isn’t religious blog, nor is it a political blog or even an activist blog. I’m not a fundamentalist or a rabid atheist, a left- or right-wing nut or obsessed with the plight of unborn babies or poverty in the 3^rd world (which of course doesn’t mean that the subjects won’t ever come up). I’m much more concerned with the everyday experiences people have with morality--the moral questions we face in our lives, and how we choose to deal with them.

Secondly, a brief look ahead to the kinds of posts I plan on writing: while I’m sure this will change as time goes on, I envision writing a number of different types of columns, from taking a look at everyday moral quandaries (which I admit won’t be much more than copy-catting The Ethicist), considering interesting quotes I stumble on, looking at current events which have a strong moral component, and perhaps some discussion about comments that (hopefully) show up on this page.

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And so I say welcome to you few, brave souls who have taken a moment out of your day to read this blog. It’s my hope that in considering the thoughts I’ve posted here, you will consider ideas you hadn’t before, and more importantly, come to have a deeper respect for the moral law--whatever you believe it to be.