First, We Abandoned Virtue- The Sunday Collage

This post was first published in September, 2014.

Sorry for the delay today. Late night, didn't get home until 2 a.m.

A couple of weeks ago, I was reading some interesting stuff about societies and how they eventually crumble and implode. More than a few people have postulated that the first things to go wanting are values, morals, and integrity. This was first proposed by Socrates and then expanded on by Plato as they spoke of virtue as moral excellence.

How are people supposed to understand the importance of virtue if your society doesn't teach it and your leaders don't possess it? Not only do we lack any type of "leadership by example" but when was the last time you actually heard anyone, anywhere, describe a President or a  Congressman as honest?  If all you ever see is this current day "dog eat dog mentality" from your leaders doesn't that become the standard? If you look outside politics, you see greedy corporate pirates such as the Koch Brothers, Gates, and Angelo Mozilo. If your Congressmen and women are allowed to accept bribes from lobbyists, trade equities on information they receive as they formulate laws that impact various publicly traded industries and corporations, give themselves giant raises, sweet lifetime retirement deals, and health packages outside of Obamacare- at what point does our culture accept that as the norm or worse yet, describe it as intelligent? I think they already have.

It gets worse I think. If people don't understand the importance of virtue, they begin to see it as unnecessary. They don't apologize for their lack of virtue because they don't see any reason to have it. So I think that type of moral decay has to be in place before societies crumble. When we collectively abandon civil ways of dealing with each other, abandon virtue, morals, and ethical behavior- we are ensuring our demise. It makes perfect sense. If people are setting the example, treating each other civilly, and always acting within the bounds of virtue and integrity- your society is at it's strongest. There is no moral erosion. In fact, I often think that this missing piece is the root of all of our problems. I see it everyday.

When I was a child, two things happened. My parents instilled a strong sense of right and wrong. Note that I had two parents. I was taught how to behave with virtue. That does not mean that I always behaved correctly- often as a child and a young adult, I did not. However, those were just my poor choices. Secondly,  children were taught civics in school and our teachers were very active and involved with this. This three pronged approach- two parents and our schools- taught us the importance of integrity, virtue, and ethical behavior.

This doesn't happen anymore. Schools quit teaching civics long ago. Two parents is an iffy proposition and chances are good that one or both parents have dismissed virtuous behavior as a waste of time anyway. Instead, they are busy working and accumulating "things."

Replacing virtuous behavior in our society is the idea that all we really need to do is comply with the legal minimums. What is barely legal is the only concern nowadays. Corporations and the pirates that run many of them, take every advantage possible. They pay the bare minimums. They routinely find ways to skirt having to pay overtime, health insurance and other benefits, and all they really care about is greed. If they can get away with something, they will. Acting responsibly and doing the right thing are no longer big concerns. Accumulating as much wealth as possible is their only concern. It is a sickness. Our political leaders lie with impunity. They engage in every greedy and self centered act just so long as they can get away with it. Some might be cash register honest- but I'm not convinced they have that much integrity. Take a look at some of these people, consider Darrell Issa. He is a former CEO and quite wealthy. He also has an unbelievable criminal history- most of which he has gotten away with- while now acting head of the Government Oversight and Reform Committee. You cannot make this stuff up.

And watching this dog and pony show, is a culture and society that hasn't had any real or moralistic leadership since JFK and some might even argue that. Nobody leads by example today and oddly, there are people who would argue that our current leadership is fine. Remember, you can't possibly know what you haven't been taught. It doesn't come by osmosis.

Could the slow erosion and demise of our society and culture occur because we abandoned virtue and ethical behavior for self-centered-ness and materialism? Could it be that simple?

I think so.

What remains to be seen is whether our culture picks itself up, recognizes what is wrong, and gets back on track with some moral excellence or whether we continue to circle the drain. It almost makes me sorry that I'm not going to be around to see how all of this ends. If we do manage to pick ourselves up- it certainly won't be at the behest of our current government "role models." In fact, it may very well occur without them. Let's hope so.

I Couldn't Attend the Funeral- But I Sent a Nice Letter of Approval

 I was lost and now I am found.

A month or so ago, I was messing around with my control panel and managed to lose everything on my computer before re-installing it.

This is what happens when you barely have enough know how to turn your computer on and then attempt to change all the settings.

Anyhow, what was lost is now found. After an ample amount of work and cursing.

In the comments, I saw an old friend ask if I was still around. To MM and my 3 other readers, yes, and while I have achieved a level of writer's block that has me wondering if I should have even bothered to restore the settings on my laptop- I am still here looking for new subject matter.

This morning I was perusing the old town's newspaper when I came across the obituary of a former colleague of mine. I am so used to feeling a sense of loss every time one of my old friends die- that I have never felt an opposite emotion. A bit of glee when an old enemy left this earthly coil.

Now I've never gone looking for enemies. Most of my life has been spent waiting for them to arrive. They just show up.

Now most of that I'm told, is my attitude. 

So about 25 years ago now, I am sitting in my office when one of the city's deputy clerks comes into my office. She is upset that kids are toilet papering her trees. She wants to know what to do.

Now at this stage in our relationship- I hardly know this gal. I see her around City Hall once in awhile. Because she is a fellow city worker, I tend to be more truthful and direct than I might be with a random member of the public.

I tell her she could get some cameras and offer some other suggestions, but I tell her most likely- we will not be able to catch these kids. They will hear or see our patrol cars and then run and hide.

She said nothing else, stood up and left. Little did I know that I had just created an enemy. No doubt, my fault. That is what I am always told.

So for the next four years, this gal did everything she could to heap misery on my life. Demanding receipts for inconsequential items listed on charge cards, telling coworkers I was an asshole, trying to get me in trouble or fired by the City Manager and the Mayor. All of it failed of course, but it damaged my reputation enough that it helped aid my early departure.

One day, this gal walked into my office and said she hated me. From the moment we met. I was dumbfounded by her. Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill. She assured me, once again, that it was all my fault.

She was an east coast liberal. I was a conservative, western farm kid. We were probably doomed from the start.

So when I saw her obituary today, I had a different sort of feeling. I was kind of happy. It felt strange. I had dreaded seeing her at the old Chief's funeral this summer but as it turns out- she was fighting a cancer diagnosis of her own.

I often wonder if all that malignant hatred people have festering inside them can cause physical illness. 

Perhaps, her death, was my fault too.