When Right is Wrong….and Wrong is Right

Okay, let me know if you have come across this?

You come across a significant other (today, that can be a wife, lover, partner, workmate, child, or just about anyone else). The SO has a strange look and it appears to you the SO is bothered about something. So you ask, like so many of us are inclined to do, “What’s wrong?”

First off, after some years of experience, you should have learned never to ask such a question, because it is usually followed by, “Nothing.” Of course, it’s never “nothing,” but eventually you will find out it’s not “nothing.”  But what I find most interesting in this time of immense regurgitation of public opinion is that I have rarely come across anyone who ever asks “What’s right?” You see, our human condition expects things to be “right” but awaits things to go “wrong.”

The problem I see is that I am no longer sure what is right and what is wrong, although it appears after the adult kiddie party that took place at Krazy Kidz in Medford last weekend that most of my fellow Long Islanders are absolutely sure what’s right and what’s wrong. As you may have heard, the ownership of Krazy Kidz held an adults only party in their amusement establishment that has been in the past only targeted for young children. Many of the parents who have been patrons of Krazy Kidz were infuriated that ownership held a rather “adult” party using the same amusements reserved for their children. The adult party-goers felt there was nothing wrong with having a little “child-like fun” on a weekend night to erase some of the stress acquired from weeks of hard work. The parents who were incited were Internet viewers of some of the party-goers who were inclined to be very child-like by reverting back to their “birthday-suit” days. The good majority of party attendees felt it was a night of good clean fun among only responsible adults (no children).

So who is right….and who is wrong? Perhaps the fundamental question should be is anybody right and is anybody wrong? We live in a society where we have and make laws that are supposed to preserve our “rights” and protect us from our “wrongs.” That works in many cases, such as murder and robbery. We all seem to get that. But many of the things we do as a society today may fall into areas in which right and wrong may not be that easy to define, especially if seemingly no actual laws are broken. And for the individuals who thought it was wrong for Krazy Kidz to promote an adult party, they may believe there is a greater need to protect our rights by enacting more laws, of which we have so many on the books police can no longer effectively enforce them. For the adult party-goers, they may think they were in the right to hold that party and many others that may likely come available when owners of other child amusement businesses find a more lucrative way to increase their cash flow. But perhaps we can separate adult venues from child venues.

We are dealing with a number of lifestyle activities that are right for some, wrong for others, such as legalized marijuana, legalized prostitution, and unsavory characters who appear to abound on the Internet to steal our identity, money, and privacy, to name a few. (I can go on about identity theft, but I simply can’t understand why someone would want to be me. If he or she only knew.)

In closing, I have been following the back and forth on the Patch comment pages regarding what’s right and what’s wrong, or is it what’s not exactly wrong and what’s not exactly right. I don’t know the answer, but perhaps we should all take some time to start asking what’s right as well as asking what’s wrong. The responses may be quite remarkable.