Decay of Principles

Ok so idk if anyone can relate or if this is just me, but I remember when I was a kid I was so nervous about like, just the thought of the ethical consequences of persuasion/rhetoric. Like, if I convince someone to do something, have I somehow infringed upon their agency? What degree of compulsion counts as coercion? Can such a line even be drawn?

And then, you know, you learn how to function in NT society and realize no one really cares about that and most people are just trying to get their way regardless of what some abstract principles might frame as objectionable. We all end up choosing our own lines in the sand, often arbitrarily and often illogically/in self-contradictory ways.

Is this just growing up, or is this a distinctly ND experience? Why is this the world we’re given to make sense of?