Drabble: The nebulosity of indeterminate territory

"Circumstances make a man".

"Circumstances do not make a man, they only reveal him to himself".

Right. Wrong. Black. White. Easy concepts, wouldn't you say? And if you have a strong moral compass, you would always want to stay within the line that separates right from wrong. But as you grow up, you find that things aren't that easy. Right by whom? Wrong at what cost?  For the greater good or for your own? Long term or short term? If damage is unavoidable, which option would you choose?

Permit me a digression here: This is not only relevant to our own moral quandaries, but also to present day tech--autonomous cars is one example. You might have heard of the trolley problem: If a trolley is hurling down and is bound to either kill a single person or a group of five, which would you choose? This might be a slightly exaggerated dilemma, but self-driven cars definitely need algorithms capable of handling such ethical questions.

Anyway, going back to the two quotes I started out with. If you are put in circumstances where your choices are always easy, then you might live with a clear conscience, never having done something wrong. Does that make you a good person? On the other hand, if your situations are impossibly difficult, the question becomes right at what cost? Would you give up everything in your life just to stay on the other side of that line? If you take this as the litmus test of character, how many people would clear it? Not many. Not me, for sure. I have my share of regrets. I don't regret my choices, but I wish I could go about them without any collateral damage. Sigh, that is only a utopian dream of mine.

But I ask you this: From what perspective do you judge right and wrong? If you think what you did was right by you, are you justified in doing it? 

Do circumstances make a man? Or do they only reveal him? :)