Let the ends be just and the means calculated to achieve the ends be equally just. Fewer things are more revealing of a person's true character than the means that one is willing to use to achieve a desired end. The question of means is, perhaps, one of the more troubling questions that we encounter in our lives. Of course, by the term "means", I am referring to the method by which one uses to achieve a particular thing; it is the road or route, if you will, by which one travels upon in reaching a particular destination.
The question of means is often a difficult one. Either we fail to ask the question altogether--whether the means are just, i.e., in line with truth--or when we do ask the question we ignore the answer. The latter is more troubling, although both lead to undesirable consequences. The latter situation is more troubling because it serves as a glimpse into one's soul.
This situation often arises when we answer the question in the negative, hence implying that either our desired end is unjust to begin with or that we must take the road least traveled to achieve our end, a route we seldom prefer. Yet, instead of choosing an alternate set of means that are just, we prefer the means that are convenient, notwithstanding their compromising nature. We rest our choice based upon the assumption that, since our end is good, we are somehow justified despite the use of unjust means. As one can see, this is a troubling routine.
We must adopt the habit of analyzing both the end and the means and whether they are in line with truth. In analyzing the particular ways that we may achieve our desired end, if we are only able to culminate methods that are unjust and contradictory of truth, then perhaps we ought to re-evaluate whether our desired end is just in the first place. Being able to do so consistently, however, requires a person of great integrity and intellectual honesty, the type of person I hope we all strive to be.
Soli Deo Gloria.
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