With social media applications comes audiences in those applications. How well do you know who is reading your posts?
Share why if you wish.
Month: August 2025
What Change To Your Identity Have You Had To Accept?
Establishing an identity can be hard. Updating that identity can be even harder, if it means changing the way you think of yourself.
A useful exercise in self-awareness is determining who you are. That might include your values, interests, and aspirations. Once you determine who you are and who you want to become, that knowledge can help guide your actions. It can shape how you see yourself, and how you talk about yourself. As a result, that can influence how others see you.
Sometimes, though, the identity that you use to help how you think of yourself has to change. There might be several different reasons for this change — perhaps you have just evolved as a person. Or maybe health problems limit how you live your life. Cultural changes, a new job, or a personal realization can all be catalysts for change.
If your identity is equivalent to your own self, then a change to that identity might well mean that you are no longer the person you used to be. This can be difficult to accept. For all that we change over time, it is natural to think of yourself as constant and unchanging. The rest of the world might change, but not you.
As you have aged and matured, how has your personal identity changed? Has that, in turn, led to an update in how you see yourself? Have you had to accept a personal change that was a surprise or that was in some way unwelcome?
Related questions: Who are you? How have you changed? What are your values? How do you demonstrate your values?
Misinformation Or Disinformation?
Misinformation is the term used when someone gets the facts wrong. Disinformation is purposefully misleading in order to manipulate. Which do you think is more common in our society?
Share why if you wish.
Have You Ridden In An Ambulance?
Over the course of your life, have you ever had cause to ride in an ambulance? If so, how was the experience?
Share why if you wish.
Do The Ends Justify The Means?
When you are trying to achieve something notable, is it acceptable to follow questionable methods so long as you get to a good place? Do the ends justify the means?
When you are striving to achieve a moral end, it is tempting to use any means to get there. It is particularly true if there is some obstacle in the way that is preventing you from succeeding. “If I can just make it happen,” your inner voice might say, “I know the good that will come from it.”
If you think in a strictly transactional sense, this might well be true. Let’s say you have to do a slightly bad thing to reach a goal that makes a significant positive impact. In this scenario, the good that results is much more impactful than the bad that happened along the way.
As the saying goes, though, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. If you follow the above reasoning, it might well be possible to justify any action, no matter how vile, by expecting an even greater good to result. If that good never ultimately materializes, then what?
A different popular saying illustrates the difference: “You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.” The omelette — the positive that comes out at the end — is worth whatever rules must be “broken” along the way.
Occasionally you might well be forced to act in ways that an earlier you might find unacceptable. As you get older and more experienced, you might well take a more nuanced approach. Or is that just a way to justify bad actions? Do the ends justify the means?
Related questions: How do we know we are right? Are religion and morality linked? What makes an action evil? When should you not follow the law?