As you grow older, the challenges in this world will be far more complicated then they are today. You will need to navigate many difficult situations. How you decide your course of life will be fundamentally critical to your success and well being. I have found by and large that the most impactful choices in my life have been the little opportunistic things like whether or not I talk to a specific person or not. Or if I hold myself accountable to some internal metric. Of course, there are big decisions that come in life, like where to live, what school, what job, and so on.
These big important decisions change the scope of your context, such as what subject you study, what people you are around, and so on. However, no matter what your reality is, you will find that the critical thing is the relationships you form with others, and more importantly, with yourself.
I can't tell you what is right because I don't know. The best I can do for you is to explain in great detail how I judge things in my eyes. Perhaps it will help you figure out for yourself what you need to. Maybe it will even provide some value to you as you navigate your life and create it to be the best you can.
When it comes to figuring out what is right and wrong or good and evil, one needs to discuss what is known as a belief system or structure. The belief structure a person uses is of the utmost importance for making decisions and guiding your actions. Your belief system will have a significant influence on who your friends will be. On what your political and religious views will be. Most people do not have a defined belief structure, so they are usually easily swayed with emotional arguments. After all, it takes a lot of time to reason things out individually, and it requires you to face controversial topics without compromise and come to an understanding of the underlying concepts.
Discussing underlying concepts and their implications on a subject with others can be challenging because many are set in their emotional opinions. In general, most people are focused on solutions to the problem at hand and not focused on the underlying root concepts creating the problem. As soon as you get into discussing the fundamentals of a position, you quickly learn that you may get people to agree with the reasoning of a concept. However, if the idea is counter to an existing view, then it will create dissonance, which will result in them usually being frustrated and agitated. Once conflict occurs, any discussion will often cease, and only arguments will result. So it is best to let things settle before you try to advance your reasoning.
As you grow up and read my letters to you, I want you to remember I am not trying to make you believe as I do or think as I do. I am trying to get you to know my belief system so you can have it as a basis to formulate your own. There are many reasons to have a defined belief structure. It can help to filter data and determine it's value quickly. It will help you know what side to be on when you need to stand for something. Now of days, too many people will stand for anything that is wrapped in emotionally invoking words.
Of course, there are drawbacks to having a belief structure. Specifically, you will have to rationalize everything through it. If it is too rigid, then you end up significantly limiting yourself. It also becomes a filter in life, so if it is too restrictive, you end up with a distorted view of reality. I try to be wary of both of these risks. But the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks, which is why I want to encourage you to develop one.
After you do create one, do not be hesitant to throw it out or redo it if you feel it is wrong. In every case, I encountered something that I felt was wrong. I ended up dissecting the issue and dividing it down to its conceptual components, usually taking years. Then from there, I followed the concepts back through their reasoning to get back as far as I was able to. In doing this, I was able to find where I errored and was able to address that error. Usually, this would result in me finding and fixing some mistakes in root level thoughts. Changing a root belief will often result in significant changes in the entire belief structure.
But how I reason and think about things is my way of doing it. As you grow up, I encourage you to experiment and figure out the best way to learn, reason, and think. Some people are very intuitive and can feel what is right, and others must think to develop their intuition. I usually have to think things through, and frequently I will test my intuition against my belief system. I like to ensure they are in alignment and, if not, understand why. I can tell you in doing this exercise it shows that I have some failings in my moral character. The practice of rectifying your belief structure against your internal desires and intuition is very enlightening and will help you learn about yourself.
Unfortunately for myself, even though I have acknowledged some failings, I have not been very successful in rectifying them. It is and will be a life long struggle for me.