This is the key message in my eyes, Midnight. Well done. I've had a short essay percolating in my mind that this will fit nicely with. I'll give you a primer in the form of a quote from the book I'm presently reading, One, by Richard Bach:

"Character comes from following our highest sense of right, from trusting ideals without being sure they'll work. One challenge of our adventure on earth is to rise above dead systems--wars, religions, nations, destructions--to refuse to be a part of them, and express instead the highest selves we know how to be."