Shades of gray?

Color me naive.

I think I always have been, and as if waking from a dream, I am seeing things as they really are. Or I am now crusted with cynicism. I'll admit that possibility.

Somewhere along the line, my value system was built:

Examples:
Work hard = do well.
Right is right.
Honesty wins.
Those in authority know best.
Do what you are told.

I suspect that the older you get, the more life experience you've had makes you see shades of gray which taint some of the idealistic view you developed much earlier. Could it be that real life is so complicated that there ARE no precepts which can hold together?

What is this ROVE nonsense?
Why DID we go after Iraq?
How did the CIA and FBI get so screwed up?
What ABOUT mad cow disease?
Why DOES the price of gas change so often while oil companies enjoy record profits?
What is being done about pollution?
What will happen to old nuclear power plants? And radioactive waste?
Why does the US pay such high prices for prescription drugs?
Why is tobacco subsidized and marijuana illegal?
What progress has been made on the 'war on drugs?'
Why does congress seem so polar and self-serving?
What does Jessie Jackson DO besides look for publicity? (Sorry if that's a cheap shot.)
Are there UFOs from other worlds?
Why do we pay teachers so little?
Where are the heroes?

...and would we want to know the answers?