"Man In The Mirror"

"A willow deeply scarred, somebody's broken heart
And a washed-out dream
They follow the pattern of the wind ya' see
'Cause they got no place to be
That's why I'm starting with me"

These are tough times.
Then again, looking back into human history, when have they been truly swell? Our struggles, after all, have the ability to strengthen our character (if we allow them) and we should welcome the various challenges we're faced with on a daily basis. And for every problem we face, there is a multitude of ways to react to it. Sometimes, people react in ways the benefit them and them alone. Other times, people might react in way that benefits everyone as much as possible. There are also times when some people just want to screw over anyone and everyone.

My friends and I have been playing a new game lately. It's called Munchkin. Munchkin is a card-based game that both parodies and pays homage to traditional role-playing games like "Dungeons And Dragons" or "Vampire: The Masquerade" and other d20's (none of which I play). We've been playing this game a lot. No, seriously! We need to take longer breaks between "gaming sessions" or the game's going to get stale.
In any case, having immersed myself in RPG lore lately, I was re-introduced to the Alignment System first introduced in D&D. The Alignment System is a can be viewed as a 3x3 grid; the columns from left to right correspond to "lawful", "neutral", and "chaotic" while the rows from top to bottom represent "good", "neutral", and "evil". If you can imagine this grid, in the top-right cell would be "chaotic good" while the middle-row, first-column cell would be "lawful neutral".
The official D&D site has this to say about character alignment:

The moral axis has three positions: good, neutral and evil. Good characters generally care about the welfare of others. Neutral people generally care about their own welfare. Evil people generally seek to harm the others' welfare.The ethical axis has three positions as well: lawful, neutral, and chaotic. Lawful people generally follow the social rules as they understand them. Neutral people follow those rules find convenient or obviously necessary. And chaotic people seek to upset the social order and either institute change, or simply create anarchy.

In an RPG, the alignment of the characters created by their players determines their standing amongst his or her fellow players and is displayed within the decisions he or she makes during decisive moments as the story progresses. (click here to read more about the D&D Alignment System)

An example of an Alignment grid... using 4chan pictures.

Though the Alignment System presented by D&D can't truly cover every real person's characteristics, it does serve as a very fair, very accurate interpolation of the different kinds of people out there (though calling some people "evil" might be a bit mean). I, myself, fall under the category of "chaotic good". One of my friends accurately falls under "true neutral", another buddy is "lawful neutral", and someone else I know is appropriately categorized as "neutral evil" (there are various "personality tests" that help categorize your personal traits on the internet. This is a particularly well done alignment test as is this one).
I've always found human behavior fascinating and have always made a point of trying to understand people's perspectives and empathizing rather than judging and condemning another persons' ways. It's this attitude that made approachable when people where often dealing with rough times (but that was long ago. My honesty... honesty in general... isn't very popular these days). It was this yearning to understand others that first introduced me to the alignment grid and it's usefulness in real life.
As I said before, the 3x3 grid is only an interpolation of the various characteristics a human being can possess. However, it does help one understand themselves a bit better. And when we know ourselves, we can decide in which direction we want our lives to move in. In this case, the case of good, neutral, and "evil", one can see through their actions and decisions that they are, for example, for the most part, "neutral evil". Upon realizing what others see in them and their actions, they may choose to alter their own behavior to "better" themselves and those around them. Then again, one might find themselves happy with being "lawful neutral" and continue to act and think in the way that person does normally. In this sense, the Alignment System is a useful tool in everyday life.
It would seem that the Alignment System would be perfect if not for one thing: The ever-changing minds and hearts of people. The systems works very well in the game world. In reality however, where nothing is predetermined and everyone is fighting to be on top, we find ourselves swaying with rising tides.
The attitudes and outlooks on life of a person are directly affected by the actions of the others around them, what is absorbed from the media, and other variables in that person's environment. Even those who have consciously rooted their beliefs and ethics and principals can see their code of conduct waver in the face of an ever-changing environment. A person who always followed the law or their heart can suddenly throw their morals and principals out the window if the negative actions of others around him were to unhinge his behavior. On the other end of the spectrum, one who had lived a morally perverse life might change their ways were they to be faced by a yet-unseen kindness in another person or the solace that is sometimes found in religion.

People say that if we want to see change, we need to make the change ourselves. The world is a dog-eat-dog place and there are always going to be people who are willing to step on a few toes and stab a few backs to get ahead in life. Every day, we find it harder than the last to walk the straight and narrow. All we can do is do what we think... what we know is right, surround ourselves with people who keep us on track, and hope our positivity rubs off on others.