NOT ALL IS LAWFUL

People tend to mistake morality for the law, and that is the reason why a person will be arrested for dressing in a certain way in Nigeria. Recently I even learned that acknowledging a loan and not paying back isn’t a crime of fraud because the money was taken based on a written agreement and thus should be treated on the basis of breach of agreement which isn’t a crime. We have grown up to learn that lying is a crime, meanwhile the only time lying is a crime is when it’s directly involved in a criminal act. You will never hear a judge sentence a person to prison for lying, but the judge will sentence the person on the basis of being an accomplice to a crime. This and many more are moral vices that could look like a crime but in the real sense, it’s just morality playing out.

PHOTO FROM META AI

Adultery is another moral standard that has a lot of misconceptions. The decision to cheat on my partner isn’t a crime and if caught can not be persecuted lawfully. However, this is a moral act that can lead to a divorce. Greed isn’t a crime, the things it can lead one to do is what can be considered a criminal offense.There is a popular brothel in my area, and one day I saw police vans around there. There were about 6 vans parked outside the brothel and I thought they had finally decided to arrest the prostitutes in that area, only to find out that they went to have a god time themselves. It was then I realized that prostitution wasn’t really a crime, and if the police wanted to really arrest a person there, it would probably be for doing drugs or other crimes.

Smoking is another thing that is very lawful, but what a person smokes is what could be considered a crime or not. You can break a heart and go scot free because it’s not a crime, but what happens when the person becomes vengeful and takes your life committing murder in the process. The crime did not stem from the need to kill at first sight, it was simply human nature that was looking for expression from an action that deeply hurt. This just means that if morality isn’t in check, there will be worse crimes than we currently have. People will kill because they were morally offended. Lying for example has made a man spend years in prison because someone decided to withhold the truth and the real criminal is going scot free.

PHOTO FROM META AI

Truth be told, I even cross the line sometimes with a little lie here and there, but then, the idea of morality kept me in check. The times when I could cheat a person for their money and no one would know are little ways my morality came to play. Morality might not be lawful, but it comprises those little things that make the world worth living. I don't want to imagine a world void of morality. It will be a world where crime will be the order of the day.

THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO HIVE LEARNER'S PROMPT FOR WEEK 168 EPISODE 2