Do You Really Want to Live Without Standards?

Do You Really Want to Live Without Standards?

or

What would your world be like without the benefits of standards?

A Story

It was as perfect as perfect could be.  My car Ruth was running flawlessly.  Full sized Ford, 3.8 liter, re-chipped with high performance computer chip, after market air intake upgrade, Dyna-tuned, and wide, flat, freeway as far as the eye could see.  The roadway was warm but the air at dusk was cooling, just what Ruth liked.  The car had the police pursuit rated suspension and she cornered like a champ except there were no corners that night.

Ruth itched to go and the cool of the evening did nothing to discourage her.  Soft easy listening though upbeat music was on the radio.  It was a great night to travel and travel the two of us did.

I had pulled onto the freeway some miles back and try as I might I could not see a speed limit.  No signs on the on-ramp and no signs for the ten miles we had come.  Every couple of miles I ramped it up a bit.  The car positively loved 80 and she purred like a contented kitten.  Since there was no posted speed limited I tried 90 and she loved it even more.  Then came 100 and 110, we were flying low. 

Then came 120 and then came the flashing reds and blues.  Well, no posted speed limit so, no harm, and no foul.  Officer friendly carefully came up the driver’s side as I rolled down my window.  He identified himself and asked, “Do you know why I pulled you over?” 

“No” I said, “I really don’t know.” 

“You were speeding,” He responded. 

“I was? What is the speed limit through here?”

It was then that he responded, “I don’t know, I don’t believe one is posted here, and in reality there is no law governing speed along here.”

He continued, “It is what I say it is and when I say it is.”  Then to further confuse the issue he went on, "On the other hand it can be what you want it to be."  

Now he did not seem like anything but an good and honest cop and so I felt free to ask, “Then why did you stop me, if there is no speed limit?”

His answer beats all, “Well, it just seemed like the right thing to do since you were in the wrong.  Well, unless you feel like you were in the right.”

Now for the Question:  “How could I have been in the wrong with no posted standard?”

Recently I read a post on a particular Facebook site.  It was to the effect that the right thing to do is to be courteous to others, do what is right, and be a good person. 

The question then was by what standard do you measure such things?  The response was that it was how he was raised.  Never mind that he did not answer my question, let's look at it this way.

Just as the police officer in my story had no standard by which to measure my behavior, so too the person that wrote the response had no standard by which to measure what was and is right and wrong.  In other words he lived by his families moral standard which of course changes from family to family, culture to culture, and history to history.  

Now if families, cultures, and historical eras were isolated from one another that might be well and good.  However, because families connect with other families and cultures with other and differing culture unless there is some common concept of right and wrong, trouble will soon be coming. 

What the writer failed to realize is that there are universal, objective, and I believe transcendent ethics.  They are the standard by which all mankind can judge good and bad, right and wrong, genuine reality and falsehood.  Without such as the case, each man becomes a law unto themselves and man’s relationships with man (the foundation of culture) unravel. 

OBLIVIOUS TO THE DANGER!

IN THE MIDST OF GRAVE DANGER

Imagine driving on a dark and rainy night down an unfamiliar road.  In ever so slight change the puddles on the road begin to merge.  Certainly this is nothing to be concerned about, well not just yet.  Imperceptibly the road is now covered with water but again nothing to be concerned about as the car is responsive and the spray is only slight.

Unbeknown and unobserved in small fractions the water deepens and deepens.  There is danger around every curve as the car becomes less and less responsive and there no longer is spray but a splashing sound—a sound that is now impossible to ignore.   However, now it is too late!

Suddenly and with little warning the car goes out of control, into the ditch, and rolls onto its side.

The moral of the story is this.  The imperceptible change that happens with little or no notice eventually leads to disastrous outcomes.  It then can leave a person questioning, “What happened?” and “Why did I not see that coming?”

Western culture is in dire straits but the changes are often imperceptible and even if notices are dismissed with, "The change is so slight that it is of little importance."  Yet unless something catastrophic happens to change course, there likely is coming a change that will be anything but "of little importance" as it will alter life as those in the West know it or wish it to be.

Consider the following barometric indicators and the attendant question, "In which of the following are things any better than they were ten, five, or even a year ago?"  

Continuing ask this question.  "Is not life in the West in a most dangerous and tenuous place?"

Here is a partial list.

Logic in thought and expression is losing ground at a frightening pace.

Language is anything but consistent and universal. 

Discourse is not the sharing of ideas but now based in the defaming of ideas.

Ethics are lost from view, replaced by one’s opinion which can differ from moment to moment (relative truth).

Respect is demanded from but not accorded to the other.

Rebellion against in lieu of accountability

Disdaining of honest though menial labor.

The secular is emphasized at the expense of the Divine.

Imposed acceptance and even required celebration of racial and ethnic differences

Fracturing of a particular nation’s cultural distinctives

Narcissistic leadership on all levels.

Standards are questioned and most often rejected

 

Honor for authorities such as parents and others is not seen as important.

Pleasure and leisure take precedence over propriety.

 

Intentions are judged as opposed to words and actions

Personal responsibility is abrogated.

Religion is seen as irrelevant or at the least inconvenient.

And the list goes on and on.  Change after change--not for the better, quiet, imperceptible, and yet far reaching in effect.

 

What is that effect?  Among the many that could be cited is this.  The culture that has come to embrace such as has been listed and unless the process is stopped will soon devolve and come to naught.

The second outcome is that those who live according to the traditional values that make any culture great are increasingly relegated to the irrelevant.  As such their influence lessens and lessens with the result that society will unravel at an ever increasing pace.  

Guess I will just have to be irrelevant.