by Joelle Steele

I have a few basic philosophies that form the central basis for everything I do in life: be kind, be honest, keep an open mind, and always do the right thing. The first three parts are not difficult to adhere to. Doing the right thing is another story. I could write a book about what it’s like to live your life always doing the right thing, or at least trying to do so. It can be, at times, extremely challenging. It means doing things that are very often far outside of one’s comfort zone, of what is considered acceptable or popular; doing things that can force you to take risks and make significant personal sacrifices; doing things that may impact on those in your family or circle of friends; and doing things that may even cause you physical, financial, and/or emotional loss or harm.

For me, doing the right thing is often a matter of speaking my mind, and in most cases I sometimes feel that when I do, I’m the only one who is acting as a voice of reason. And being able to divorce your emotions from a situation and look at it from both sides and try to bring peace or understanding to a misunderstanding or conflict can be essential. Over the years, I have written many short articles and letters to the editor, trying to stop people from acting like idiots and see the reality of a situation.

I’m especially driven to support animal rights and the rights of all human beings – including people of various ethnicities, religions, gender identity, homeless, mentally ill, etc. So, when I see that someone has been arrested for mistreating an animal, I see red, and I want that person ordered to therapy and/or in jail and at the very least prohibited from having an animal again. And when it comes to homeless people, I have tried repeatedly to explain who these people are and the multitude of reasons why they are living on the street. I also try to define terms, when people take things out of context or try to make something fit in a category where it probably doesn’t belong.

I think that taking action against wrong-doing of any kind is important, and for me that mainly means speaking up and speaking out in defense of those who can’t or are afraid to speak up for themselves. Being a writer has been a great platform in which I can do this, can do the right thing.  So why live that way? Because it means acting for the greater good, even if it’s only in a small way, because sometimes the smallest of actions makes the biggest difference for those who are not otherwise getting the help and support they need in this world. Doing the right thing is difficult, and it can really rub people the wrong way at times. But it is also easy, mainly because you simply know it’s right and you are in a position to do it. And, after all is said and done, there is a very big upside to this entire philosophy: I always go to bed at night with a clear and clean, guilt-free conscience.