Reason

What are reasons needed for? Why do people tend to have reasons behind their actions? Reasons validate, or justify, certain things. It moreover convinces others to understand things that are usually not plausible.

For example, Jean Valjean stole a loaf of bread. Stealing is a crime, one of the things that are prohibited to do in order to maintain peace within the society. However, Jean Valjean had a nephew who was starving and close to death, and he had no money whatsoever to give him any food or medicine. His stealing was due to his harsh situation, and was from a noble reason, to save a life. Some people, after the reason revealed, would be convinced and say Jean Valjean’s theft was reasonable. However, others, who stand with Javert, would say theft is never allowed under any circumstances. They would argue that Jean Valjean could have chosen other ways to save his nephew, such as working hard to earn money and legitimately buy the bread, or even begging to the bakery owner. But still, those alternatives would not have been as immediate and practical solutions to solve the problem, though they are considered ‘moral’. For Jean Valjean, what was more important was saving his dying nephew, than such cliché like moral.