I recently spent some time on right vs.wrong. I want to expand on that a bit. I think that our culture has lost its mooring to these two key principles. When I was a kid, we had a small black and white TV. Sometimes it worked. We had 3 channels and they went off the air at midnight. There were very few choices as to what to watch. But, the shows that we had were qualitative different from TV today. There were good guys and bad guys. The good guys were good…….all of the time. The bad guys were bad……..all of the time. In a word, our public media taught us about good and bad every day. Characters like Matt Dillon, Ben Cartwright, Mike Nelson, Mr. Rodgers, and Magnum, PI modeled right behaviour for us……..and we absorbed it. These were our role models. There were organizations that explicitly taught right behaviour……like the Boy Scouts.
But, over the years, these ideals……..these ideal role models have come to be seen as “one dimensional”, “niave”, “childish”, “uninteresting”. The good guys in our public media have been replaced by much more complicated characters. Some would say more realistic, more interesting………more like us. Indiana Jones, Han Solo, Jason Bourne, Brian Mills(played by Liam Neeson in “Taken”) are all modern good guys. They are all complex characters that model some aspects of right but also some aspects of wrong. But, when they do something wrong, at least it is justified in the pursuit of a “greater good”. But, sometimes they do wrong…….just to show us that it isn’t really that “wrong” after all.
What the media is teaching us is that the wrong that we do every day……..is justifiable, is common, is an effective problem solving tool. In a word, our media is teaching that you can do things that are wrong…….and still be a good guy. The trouble is that the list of acceptable “wrongs” grows every day. It has even become rude to point out wrong when we see it. We call this tolerance.
Walking into a store, filling a garbage bag with merchandise and walking out………not a crime.
Voting under a false identity………tolerated.
Dumping trash and toxic waste along our roads and waterways……common.
Killing your child as an exercise in reproductive rights.
Charging $100 for a $1 pill.
Wrecking a city……or our capitol……as a valid form of “free speech”.
Let me be clear…….these things are wrong.
But the list grows every day. What was clearly wrong yesterday is acceptable today. The pan of water that we are sitting in keeps slowly getting hotter. I can’t imaging what will be acceptable tomorrow.
So we are working against a strong societal headwind when we pursue “right” in the public arena. If you want to be ostracised, tell someone that what they are doing is wrong. But, we must. There are so many voices telling our young people that they can do as they please. And every time that these voices sell another “wrong” as “tolerable” they prepare the way for an even more wrong idea tomorrow. We need voices speaking out for “right”.
Where to begin?
The first thing we must do is to be sure that we have rooted out the wrong ideas that we have already come to accept. So here are a few tests:
Is it true, kind, and helpful?
Does it help me…..but hurt someone else?
Will I be able to look Jesus in the eye when I try to justify it?
When we fully understand and commit to “right and wrong”…….we will be in a much better position to “sell” these “old fashioned” ideals to a culture that has lost its footing.
On my honor, I will do my best, to do my duty to God and my country, and to obey the scout law, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.
Boy Scout Oath
A Scout is:
Trustworthy,
Loyal,
Helpful,
Friendly,
Courteous,
Kind,
Obedient,
Cheerful,
Thrifty,
Brave,
Clean,
and Reverent.
Boy Scout Law
Love God……Love your neighbor
God’s Law