The Responsibilities of Example-Setting

Just because what you do doesn't directly hurt anyone else, and just because it doesn't directly hurt you, doesn't mean it is not sinful or wrong. One of the things we fail to realize is the way in which we set examples for others, and how those examples can hurt other people. When a middle-class young person experiments with drugs, they do so with a lesser risk than other people. Those at the socioeconomic 'bottom' are not able to insulate themselves from the consequences of their actions the way the middle class and wealthy are. Someone with resources can afford a good lawyer to soften the legal consequences of their behavior. They can hire doctors and go into rehab if they happen to get hooked. They are usually more highly educated with a huge social structure around them and behind them that can help them stay motivated, counteracting some of the demotivating effects of light night partying and drugs.

The poor have none of these resources, or at least very few of them. By going out and setting an example of behavior, they lead other people into that behavior. While that behavior may be fine for you, it may not be so fine for me. You may not be an addict, but you by your not being an addict entice other people to try what you are doing. They may in fact be prone to addiction, and the very fact that you are not tricks them into thinking they can do what you do. But they find out that they can't.

You are responsible for the example you set. I wonder how many teachers experiment with drugs in high school, only to go on to become teachers and find those same drugs, the same behaviors that cost them little, end up costing others who are not so fortunate very much indeed. I suspect this is a common experience, actually. And then they are stuck hypocritically and indeed with an aristocratic condescension saying to these people, "oh it was fine for me, but for you its killing you...don't you see?" Yet actions speak louder than words. They know who you likely really were, they know about the similar activities that go on among the well-off.

No man is an island, indeed. Think about the culture you are reinforcing when you act. You do not belong to yourself. Who you are is in God's hands and indeed in the hands of your fellow man. I guess in this sense there is some truth to karma.