I really wanted to write something positive today. In the end, I kept coming back to one topic though so I'm going under the assumption that I'm supposed to write about this. Positive will have to wait.
It seems that more and more I become involved in conversations where others either have a liaise-faire attitude about right and wrong; or even more troubling, no sense of right and wrong. Most of the time these conversations are about the "smaller" rights and wrongs. Seldom will people argue that murder is right, or that adultery, robbery, kidnapping or child-molestation is OK. But what about parking in a handicap spot? What about tossing your gum out of the car window? What about copying that Michael Jackson CD that your friend just bought (or more likely the one your friend copied from their friend)?
· "It's not hurting anyone."
· "No one will know."
· "No one will care."
· "It's a stupid rule anyway."
· "Everyone else does it."
Any of those sound familiar? If you say no you're a liar! I've said them; you've said them; and we've all heard people say them. What's troubling though is how quickly many of us are to ignore right and wrong for one of these excuses.
Now lest I be accused of being a hypocrite, let me quickly say that I'm not perfect and I occasionally chose the "wrong" over the "right" (please don't tell my dog, he really does believe I'm perfect and I'd like to keep him in the dark as long as possible). I do however, go out of my way MOST of the time to chose the "right" option; even when "it won't matter" and "no one will know". I'm so anal that it just drives me nuts to see someone go through a double door on the left-hand side or walk down the left side of an aisle. In the US, we keep to the right except to pass. That's just the "right" way to do it.
In our subdivision (I hate subdivisions by the way, but that's a subject for another day), it's against the rules to shoot fireworks. This past week, I think half the subdivision was shooting fireworks for the 4th of July. Not The Godfrey's though because IT'S AGAINST THE RULES. I love fireworks - love to shoot them and love to watch them. We could have shot fireworks for hours and no one would have said anything. No one would have called the police and the sun would have still come up the next morning. We didn't though because abiding by the rules was the "right" thing to do.
It's not always about laws or rules. It seems as a society we've lost all sense of decency or civility towards others. Why should you be nice to the coworker or neighbor that always seems to be out to get you? Why should you smile and say thank you to the teenage girl at the drive-thru who obviously hates you, her job, and the rest of the world? Why should you NOT send that mean email, or Facebook message or Tweet to that person that just hurt your feelings? Why should you NOT just say "to hell with you all, I'm going to treat you the way you treat everyone else"? The simple fact is we (I) should do what's right even if no one else in the world does.
So if I'm correct, and fewer and fewer people are "doing right just because it's right", then we need to ask another very important question. Do we NOT do right because we simply choose to do wrong; or do we no longer know the difference? I'm not sure which would be worse.
Wayne