Our lives bring up one ethical issue after another. Ethical choices face us in many of our everyday decisions. The way that we make these decisions has great influence on our futures and the futures of those affected by our decisions. There are repeated ethical scandals in business, in politics and every other area of human activity. In these ethical scandals people of wealth, of achievement, and of prominent status have lost their good reputations and endured public disgrace. Some have faced criminal trials or have incurred significant financial losses. Some have even gone to prison. They, and their families, have been ruined. If they had it to do over again, how many of these people would make the same ethical choices that led to their humiliation? What can we learn from their bitter experiences? The unmistakable lesson is that ethical choices matter a great deal, and that ethical lapses can have drastic unforeseen consequences. It is abundantly clear that ethics is vitally important to all of us. In this article, we attempt to create a practical framework for ethical decision making.