Hcs 335 - Ethical Decision

Ethical Decision

HCS/335

Dionne Johnson – Snagg

December 7, 2015

Claudia Unrein

Dionne Johnson – Snagg

Ethical Decision

We’ve learned that ethics can’t really have one meaning because a person’s background plays a part in how they view ethical matters. Our backgrounds play a part in our morals and ethical decisions, at least in the beginning. I have what can be called a west Indian/Caribbean background and if anyone is familiar with that type of upbringing it’s overbearing. You really don’t have much room for thoughts of your own until you move from underneath your parents’ roof. I had a lot of clashes with the views that were instilled in my parents that they attempted to pass on to me.

        Family dynamics is a big deal in our culture and I have a child and at the time I was in a serious relationship that turned into an engagement (it was a 9 year relationship). My family’s approval was something that I felt that I needed because of the way that I was brought up. Even the choice of a partner was something that I felt like I needed to get the okay from them for. When I got engaged I was happy because every woman wants a family with the biological parents. I realized a little later on that I said yes more for my daughter and family than for myself.

I was in a really intense verbally abusive relationship but I was torn because I wanted my daughter to have her family and I didn’t want to feel like a failure to myself or my family. I dealt with things for as long as I could to make everyone else happy until I reached my breaking point and I had to call of the engagement. I realized that while I knew that it was unhealthy for me it was just as unhealthy for my daughter. I can say that we put up a really good façade for her. In her eyes we were probably the paragon family dynamic because we hid things really well from her.