Signaling

  Signals and signs are all around us. Most recently it is all this virtue signaling that has grabbed the most attention. A great deal of that is what we used to call climbing up on the soap box. I know, I do it often enough. But silence has never sparked a conversation or solved a problem and so someone has to speak up. There is a risk in doing so but I don't mind so much. I did grow up with the adage, sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me. I also grew up in a time when words could get you punched in the face. A time when discretion was the better part of valor. I find that a recurring theme in my writing and thinking. I think of that as independence. With independence comes personal accountability, another recurring theme. I didn't run to the teacher, or the school resource officer every time my feelings were hurt. There was no expectation that every choice you made would be unilaterally accepted! No, there was no parade, no ribbon and no reward for that. 

 Signs are posted to establish a standard, what is expected. Mostly we think of signs as restrictive though. That's part of the human psyche isn't it? No parking, don't walk on the grass, that sort of thing. Signs provide information, sometimes we just don't like the information presented. We begin to make exceptions to that don't we? Yes, that's what the sign says but it doesn't apply to me. But with virtue the signs and signals are not clear at all. Now we all agree, at least in principle upon the basic core of virtue, of right and wrong. That is what religious instruction is all about. Religious instruction was a much larger part of the American experience than it is today. In many cases the subject has been removed entirely. As a result society has begun forming its' own form of virtue. This basically consists of, if I'm not hurting anyone else, it's okay. The intent being to remove personal accountability. Personal accountability is the responsibility to yourself! If the action is harming you it is just as wrong as if it were harming others. 

 Religious instruction is to make us aware of our moral compass. We all have a moral compass, even those that tend to ignore it. It's a part of the whole "choice" thing that God bestowed upon humanity. We can obey the signs or just ignore them. It is interesting to note that all the major religions of the world preach the same basic principles of morality and virtue. It is only in the manner of enforcing those principles that differences occur. Some choose to be extreme in their enforcement taking a literal view, while others, and this is becoming the ever more popular choice, choose to ignore the sign altogether. The later does not require personal accountability nearly as much as the first. Now you can commit the offense in broad daylight! Thing is just doing something in the open doesn't make it right. Tolerance and acceptance are separate things.

 When the country was founded that was well known and taught to everyone. Religious instruction was a major part of our society. Even then however there were disputes about the actual practice of that religious belief. That is the reason behind the separation of church and state. Two hundred and forty five years ago a real fear was the Catholic church directing the affairs of government. In the preceding centuries there was much evidence of the chaos that could cause. Remember the Puritans? They were fleeing religious persecution. Remember Henry the right? He had a lot of issues with the Catholic church. In fact he began the protestant reformation for one basic reason, the church wouldn't give him a divorce! He created a sort of hybrid form of government, a mixture of Catholic and Protestant doctrines. It proved to be far more convenient for him. The Pope no longer had power over him. That was in 1543. A couple hundred years later it was understood, religion plays no active part in government, religion plays an active part in the morality of men. In order to have a moral government, you have to have a moral populace. And morality can't be legislated. All legislation can do is allow immoral behaviors. We think of signs as restrictive and legislation as permissive. As long as it is legal, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else, as determined by you, you are the sole judge of that, it's just fine. There is a single line, as recorded by John that Jesus said to the woman caught committing adultery. He said, go, and sin no more. He didn't say keep on doing whatever you like as long as it isn't hurting anyone else, what he said was, you were wrong, don't do that again. Accountability.