doing the right thing

Eat right, exercise, do your homework. Use q-tips to clean the hinges on the toilet, hose out the cat boxes, put the dishes away. Sort the recycleables and take out the trash. Send out those thank you cards. Do research. Do more research. Write, revise, write again. Keep the bed made, do the laundry. Be faithful to your mate. Don't lie, cheat, or steal; get right with the diety of your choice. Donate to charitable causes. Don't fall in love with the wrong person; don't lose your heart on accident. Respect yourself and be respectful to others. Don't forget to pay those bills on time.

We learn the parameters of what is "right" through a million different messages, positive and negative reinforcement at every turn. Why is doing the right thing so frequently a battle we must fight with ourselves? Out-willing our biological and cultural hardwiring can be exhausting - it's undertandable why so many succumb to the self-serving electrical impulses that coarse through the body and the mind. It would be interesting to know what proponents of chaos theory would have to say about keeping one's life in "order." More research to do, I guess.