Finally the last paradigm in Kidder's book is justice vs. mercy, which is upholding the belief that people have what is coming to them, or giving them another chance for their mistakes. Kidder's situation in his book is about a new promising journalist working for a newspaper. All her work was great and she seemed to have a great future ahead of her, until one day when her boss discovers that she has plagiarized her last article. The boss is faced with the justice vs. mercy paradigm for how to deal with her. He could throw her out of the newspaper, put her on the black list and make sure she never has a job ever again in the journalism field (justice), or he could talk to her about it and see why she would do such a thing, considering the amount of talent she has. After deciding to talk to her about it he discovers that she has been having personal issues at home and had to time to get her own article in, so she copied someone else's work to get it in on time. He allows her to resign peacefully as long as she agrees to never work in the writing field again (mercy). A situation I once faced with this paradigm was earlier this year. I was a best friend of this person since the first day of middle school, and now I, along with everyone else noticed that he was treating his girlfriend with a sickening degree of control. Everyone tried to help the girl, but she refused to be helped. Seeing there's nothing I could do, I stopped talking to my friend, and most everyone else followed. Seeing as this kid has emotional problems, he got upset I didn't want to be his friend anymore, and one night he smashed in the windows of my car. I had no concrete evidence that it was him, but everyone knew it was. I could either take matters into my own hands and make sure he was repaid for his actions (justice), or I could do nothing and move on (mercy). I didn't do a thing, and the rule of karma followed. He was soon thereafter arrested for drug use, his girlfriend finally broke up with him, almost all of his friends abandoned him, and his car stopped working all by itself.
So in conclusion, being ethical in everyday life will help you make the right decision, and when there are two right decisions, identifying the four paradigms and classifying the problem in front of you into at least one of them, will help you make the decisions that you feel you need to make. Practicing ethical living on a daily basis will improve your mental fitness and decision making skills, leading you to be able to be a leader when tough choices need to be made.
