Level Three. A Principle.

Level Three – A Principle.

By Michelle Lloyd.

What was a principle?  Well, in the case of New One, as he had most recently found out, a principle was a highly-held value of action or thought.  It basically meant what you thought of as the right way to behave, think and decide in life.

It could be complicated and New One had been warned of this but his own experiences of applying a principle or two to what he knew had shown him that if you were wary of how you did what you thought was right, then you would probably be all right.

It was at school one afternoon that New One encountered a heated exchange between two friends.  Little Herbert had suggested quite strongly that if someone was in trouble then it would be all right to leave your responsibilities at the time to go to help them.  R V, however felt the opposite because it was a principle of his to not ever abandon what he was supposed to be doing at the time.  It had become quite awkward because neither was giving up on their side and both felt that their principle was the right one.

New One who had only just entered their conversation come standoff was a bit perplexed by it all.  Whose principle was the right one?  New One himself felt that his principle about that particular situation albeit hypothetical was to decide if the problem warranted him doing something drastic about it.  He could not, try as he might, get his two friends to agree though.

In the end, New One went to his teacher, who told them all to collectively assemble for a little talk.  It was there that she told them all that principles should not be a means for dispute.  Each could have their own principle and one could not win or lose because of it.  As long as the principle helped the action to be a productive one, then that was what had to matter most.

R V, Little Herbert and New One felt relieved because it meant that a true principle was something that should be a means for individual proactivity and not ever a cause for dispute.