Apr 03 2008
Values – are they as disposable as everything else?
Is there anything that isn’t disposable, these days?
- People are disposable
- Every day people are killed for their loose change, their cell phone, for glancing at the wrong person.
- Possessions are disposable
- Every day people throwaway perfectly good food, clothes, gadgets, convinced their lives are meaningless without the latest ‘must-haves’.
- Living things are disposable
- Every day another species nears extinction because we need more space, more goods, more freedom, more choice… MORE!
Don’t we care?
Of course we care! We’re absolutely outraged!
- Outraged from the comfort of our couches.
- Outraged over a latte with friends.
- Outraged at our TVs for telling us such things.
We idolize our throwaway culture. So much so that we treat the world itself with the same casual contempt with which we treat worn-out tennis shoes or a scratched CD - we can always buy ourselves out of trouble.
Except our credit’s gone bad! We can’t simply buy our way out of this one. This time, we actually have to get off our fat lazy butts and DO something. And you know what that means, don’t you? Yep, we’re screwed!
But how could we instill values even if we wanted to? If it was simple we’d have done it ages ago, so it has to be either really complex or unbelievably arduous.
Wrong on both accounts.
Why?
Because it’s incredibly simple. All we have to do can be summed up in just THREE LITTLE WORDS!
What are those three words?
“Grow some balls!”
What? You were expecting some philosophical musings? A lengthy discourse on morals, humanity and ecology? Why? Isn’t that ‘balls’ concept true? If we develop the strength and courage to see through our convictions won’t that change the very world?
So how do we instill values?
By learning to say “NO!” to ourselves and “NO!” to our kids.
- “No, I won’t stab that guy for his cell phone.”
Most people would accept that as being reasonably achievable.
So why is this one such a stretch?
- “No, I don’t need another pair of shoes.”
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” A fine teaching. But it only goes part way.
- It isn’t a coincidence that ALL the Great Faiths teach us to exercise stewardship over our environment and that killing, stealing, cheating is wrong.
- It isn’t a coincidence that atheistic Ethics teaches us those things are wrong.
- It isn’t coincidence that Logic teaches us that an individual’s best chance for survival is to be empathic to his cultural and natural environments.
But how do you truly empathize with other people?
It starts with thinking of them not as other people but people just like you.
Just like you, other people have dreams, fears, hopes, needs, desires, anxieties… If you acknowledge that, then is it so difficult to take one philosophical step further - in every respect except that they occupy a different space, they are you.
And this isn’t some new age bull; this is simple common sense. Think about it.
If you have two Labrador dogs, you don’t pat one and not the other, don’t feed only one, don’t love only one. Why? Because you appreciate that they’re the same creatures and, therefore, have all the same needs.
If you empathize with dogs, why is it such a stretch to empathize with that stressed-out young woman waiting your table, with your mailman, your neighbour, some guy on the street… Why is it so impossible to see these people not as other things that occupy your world, but as real people, just like you?
You see, the more we see ourselves as removed from the world, as something almost divinely unique, the less we interact with the world as a ‘real’ person. We and our world become as virtual as anything in cyberspace. And the less we interact, the harder it is for us to get what we want without adopting a dog-eat-dog mentality.
Oh, you might claw your way to the top of your profession and have a luxurious home, endless pre-approved credit cards, a lifestyle befitting the Hollywood elite, but at what cost? You’ll be surrounded by dog-eat-dog colleagues, friends, even family - one slip and they’ll rip you apart to get their hands what they believe should truly be theirs.
Is that living? Or is living about sharing? Sharing experiences? Sharing possessions? Sharing yourself with someone else?
Wouldn’t empathy for all things come through such sharing?
So ask yourself -
- Do we really want our children to marvel at a photo of a tiger, elephant, or whale the way we do at a drawing of a stegosaurus, T. Rex, or triceratops?
- Do we really want our children to suffer a world filled with fuel crises, erratic weather, pollution, famines, droughts?
- Do we really want our children to fear walking our streets for who might be lurking in the shadows?
Or do we really want our children to share, to empathize, to value other people and the world around them?
Steve
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