The older I get the more I see change that I don't understand. As a society we must change and grow or be doomed. But change needs to be governed by some guiding principles or it has no meaning.
Morals
Where have our morals gone? Start with the world. The things we are doing to each other is unbelievable. I don't mean just the big obvious things like war and terrorism. While these are terrible we have seen these before for centuries. It does not make them right and I do not condone any of it but I can't help wonder if it does not stem from the smaller more mundane moral failures.
When I was growing up my mother told me there was no such thing as hate. She said you can dislike someone or disagree with someone but you cannot hate them. If you are a real Christian or Muslim this should be a cornerstone of your beliefs. perhaps it all starts here. If we grow up accepting and portraying hate then is it any surprise that we see the kind of horrible human tragedies we do?
What about the Golden Rule - do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If we taught all our children this a basic human tenant could they grow up to kill and torture? If one stops and thinks about the way they want to be treated and does that for others it is logical that we would have a peaceful and happier world.
Tolerance is another missing moral. We should never judge another till we have walked a mile in their shoes. Sure we can disagree with anyone but that does not mean we can't tolerate or even accept that they have the right to live their lives as they choose.
So take the LBGT movement. I understand why many people do not accept this as a way they would want to live their lives. They are entitled to that view but they do not have the right to criticize or victimize a person from the LBGT community. Live and let live - tolerate. And for the LBGT community must respect that folks do not agree with your lifestyle and have that right. If we don't hate each other, we apply the Golden Rule and we tolerate each other we would not have a problem.
As a side note we should also try to stay away from labels as they by definition divide us and beg for discord. We are humans, then we are male or female, then Americans, then whatever race or religion we affilitate with. Not the other way around. Stop the labels - we are all minorities in God's eyes.
Ethics
This is a truly generational issue and one we have created. Ehtics are a broad but essential ingredient of life. As a society we cannot regulate everything so much is left to human free will. It is the greatest gift and curse God gave us. It separates us from every other spicies on the planet and yet we struggle with it always. There are some that have tried to distill it to the seven deadly sins. I think that is myopic.
Ehtical behavior comes from all the moral traits we discussed above. I think the struggle often is more internal than external but if we lose one we lose them both. What drives people to do bad things? That is a complex question but for the majority it is to gain something they want - an internal desire or goal. Ehtics can and should be taught. We no longer do that.
Discipline is all but gone from America. Children will by nature test their boudries and if those boundries are missing or weak the children will go astray. Once they cross those boundries with no consequences then they will internalize tacit approval of that behavior and repeat it. So it all starts with parenting and teaching our children ethical behavior. If we can't do that we are doomed to chaos and anarchy.
Integrity
What is it? Doing the right thing when no one is looking and there are no consequences. Sounds pretty simple but it is not. It takes moral fiber and inner strength to do it. Since no human is perfect we can't expect we will have complete integrity in everything we do but we should start teaching it to our kids at a very young age.
We have to show children that the reward for integrity is not thanks or notarity but the feeling we derive from it. It is a "me" thing. It is not about the outside world it is all about sleeping with yourself.
Sadly I am not sure integrity can exist without guilt but that is a discussion for another time. America has lost so much of its integrity. I see it everyday in business. Simple things like doing what you say you are going to do. To think we used to do business in this country with a simple handshake. Today its reams of legal documents and even that can't reign in the unbridled cheats. It seems being a "person of your word" means very little anymore. Getting on top is all that matters not how you got there.
The Future
I am not sure what that looks like anymore. Sure we will continue this amazing tech evolution and we will become smarter about our environment but as humans I am not sure we are making progress. The family unit is no longer sacred, morals are missing, ethics are no longer taught and integrity is no longer valued. So we may appear to be moving forward but are we really? Is a smarter techie, green world any good if the human component is empty and broken?
Millennials have gotten a lot of heat recently and to a great extent it is deserved but we their parents are guilty of not providing the right framework for them to develop appropriately. Does that excuse them and their behavior? That's for another blog but they should take heed and apply morals, ethics and integrity to theirs lives immediately.
Morals
Where have our morals gone? Start with the world. The things we are doing to each other is unbelievable. I don't mean just the big obvious things like war and terrorism. While these are terrible we have seen these before for centuries. It does not make them right and I do not condone any of it but I can't help wonder if it does not stem from the smaller more mundane moral failures.
When I was growing up my mother told me there was no such thing as hate. She said you can dislike someone or disagree with someone but you cannot hate them. If you are a real Christian or Muslim this should be a cornerstone of your beliefs. perhaps it all starts here. If we grow up accepting and portraying hate then is it any surprise that we see the kind of horrible human tragedies we do?
What about the Golden Rule - do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If we taught all our children this a basic human tenant could they grow up to kill and torture? If one stops and thinks about the way they want to be treated and does that for others it is logical that we would have a peaceful and happier world.
Tolerance is another missing moral. We should never judge another till we have walked a mile in their shoes. Sure we can disagree with anyone but that does not mean we can't tolerate or even accept that they have the right to live their lives as they choose.
So take the LBGT movement. I understand why many people do not accept this as a way they would want to live their lives. They are entitled to that view but they do not have the right to criticize or victimize a person from the LBGT community. Live and let live - tolerate. And for the LBGT community must respect that folks do not agree with your lifestyle and have that right. If we don't hate each other, we apply the Golden Rule and we tolerate each other we would not have a problem.
As a side note we should also try to stay away from labels as they by definition divide us and beg for discord. We are humans, then we are male or female, then Americans, then whatever race or religion we affilitate with. Not the other way around. Stop the labels - we are all minorities in God's eyes.
Ethics
This is a truly generational issue and one we have created. Ehtics are a broad but essential ingredient of life. As a society we cannot regulate everything so much is left to human free will. It is the greatest gift and curse God gave us. It separates us from every other spicies on the planet and yet we struggle with it always. There are some that have tried to distill it to the seven deadly sins. I think that is myopic.
Ehtical behavior comes from all the moral traits we discussed above. I think the struggle often is more internal than external but if we lose one we lose them both. What drives people to do bad things? That is a complex question but for the majority it is to gain something they want - an internal desire or goal. Ehtics can and should be taught. We no longer do that.
Discipline is all but gone from America. Children will by nature test their boudries and if those boundries are missing or weak the children will go astray. Once they cross those boundries with no consequences then they will internalize tacit approval of that behavior and repeat it. So it all starts with parenting and teaching our children ethical behavior. If we can't do that we are doomed to chaos and anarchy.
Integrity
What is it? Doing the right thing when no one is looking and there are no consequences. Sounds pretty simple but it is not. It takes moral fiber and inner strength to do it. Since no human is perfect we can't expect we will have complete integrity in everything we do but we should start teaching it to our kids at a very young age.
We have to show children that the reward for integrity is not thanks or notarity but the feeling we derive from it. It is a "me" thing. It is not about the outside world it is all about sleeping with yourself.
Sadly I am not sure integrity can exist without guilt but that is a discussion for another time. America has lost so much of its integrity. I see it everyday in business. Simple things like doing what you say you are going to do. To think we used to do business in this country with a simple handshake. Today its reams of legal documents and even that can't reign in the unbridled cheats. It seems being a "person of your word" means very little anymore. Getting on top is all that matters not how you got there.
The Future
I am not sure what that looks like anymore. Sure we will continue this amazing tech evolution and we will become smarter about our environment but as humans I am not sure we are making progress. The family unit is no longer sacred, morals are missing, ethics are no longer taught and integrity is no longer valued. So we may appear to be moving forward but are we really? Is a smarter techie, green world any good if the human component is empty and broken?
Millennials have gotten a lot of heat recently and to a great extent it is deserved but we their parents are guilty of not providing the right framework for them to develop appropriately. Does that excuse them and their behavior? That's for another blog but they should take heed and apply morals, ethics and integrity to theirs lives immediately.