Stepping out onto the snow covered streets of Toronto; I attempt to navigate my way down the wet and icy sidewalk without falling. With my brogues acting as skis opposed to shoes, I trek down the slippery slope of Yonge Street on my way home. The year is now 2015. Looking around me at the city so full of life, I say goodbye to the drama of 2014, and I say a tiny prayer of thanks for being able to overcome the darkness of 2k14. With that said, even though it is a brand-new year it does not necessarily erase the problems you had in 2014. Unless faced head on, the negativities will follow you into the new year.

New Year’s Eve was a difficult time for me. I faced criticism head on, and from someone I care about dearly. Being thick skinned I usually take criticism fairly easily, but through sharpened fangs and poisoned words, the venom seeped into my mind blanketing all that I had worked for. I was criticized for Radiant Wording, and how the blog itself deems me as talentless for apparently “it does not take talent to write a diary”. Taken like a knife, I think about all the posts that I have written over the past year. I have taken readers with me along my journey of mental illness, and how to break out of the darkness, relinquishing pain with the goal of a better life. Apparently through this act of sharing the private moments of my life, I have not only disregarded my personal ethics and morality, but I have put my family in the same category. Spending the beginning of the new year in tears, I found myself wondering if this person was right. Is Radiant Wording nothing but a diary? Do the words I say really compromise my morality?

Morality is a word of many definitions. With all people coming from a different background and having their own story, every “version” of morality can be seen as different. Theft, while seen in a western society as immoral and wrong, it can be seen by a homeless man as a necessity and morally okay. As a society, individuals of varying strands of religion are walking the earth. In Canada alone, our population is comprised of many diverse cultures and religions. This country encompasses religions of all kind, we see Christians, Muslims, Atheists, Buddhist, Jews and people from all walks of life. All religions consist of their own fundamental moral teachings which govern the lives and morality of the practioners. If I, a moden societal figure, were to perform an action that may go against the teachings of one religion, does that compromise my morality? Religion has adapted. If anyone would care to disagree with this statement, why don’t we take into example the laws of the Catholic, Christian, and Jewish teachings illustrated in the first five chapters of the Bible and Torah. If we were to base all morality on the teachings of our religion we would still be stoning, and killing women who were not a virgin on their wedding night and stoning children and men who had disobeyed their parents. If you do not believe me, I urge you to open the holy texts, and to read Deuteronomy 22:13-21 and Deuteronomy 21:18-21. There is a sharp difference between morals and ethics. Morals being our own personal governing factors while ethics are comprised of the ethics of society. Lyn Hejinian, an American poet and essayist states, “There is no “sameness” of the sky we follow stars to form an authoritative constellation called Common Sense”. The idea of “common sense” (as compared to a constellation) is continuously changing for each person in society bases his or her ideals (morality) off of the “stars”. The stars, (in this case, assumingly being a reference to the biblical following of the North Star) shows how the shepherd no longer was a leader, for in a single moment he became one of his own sheep. He no longer was the guide, his direction was being given by the following of a star. We are ALL Followers. As a society we do not have the means to step forward and to let our selves govern our own morality for we are ALL influenced by our surroundings.

If my morality and decision making does not coincide with the ideals of another, then I will provide my sincerest apologies. We are human and are capable of expression. I am not defending Radiant Wording, for I am simply defending my basic human right.

In times like this, I think WWCD. What Would Carrie Do?

Carrie Bradshaw: my inspiration and the star of HBO’s Sex in The City. Carrie did not care for the misguided thoughts of others. She took advice from her three friends and colleagues, but Carrie ultimately made her own decision for she knew what she wanted in not only her love life, but in her career. Ms. Bradshaw should be an inspiration to us all, for she inspires viewers to figure out what YOU want and then to find the best path to achieving it. Do not let any negative opinion get in your way; for you are not talentless, you are human. You are filled with an abundance of raw energy ready to be harnessed and used, you are ready to create and be created. When you are faced with an opposing and antipathetic individual, you must filter through what can help you and what will ruin you. Take the advice, but rid yourself of the negative energies.

Remember, WWCD.