We have to accept the past for what it was. I'm growing real tired of all the complaining and explaining. You can not change the past. It is really as simple as that. When I was a kid I heard no sense in crying over spilled milked often enough. There was nothing to be learned, no great life changing action to be taken, you spilled the milk. You already knew you didn't want to do that, but you had. It's done. All that is left is to clean up the mess. Cry all day if you like, but that milk isn't going back in the bottle. Want more milk, wait for the cow to be ready. That takes about 12 hours, give or take.
You know there isn't always something to learn from history. A great deal of the time we are quite aware of what we should or shouldn't be doing but ignore that. Sometimes we call that having an independent spirit and sometimes it is civil disobedience. At other times we simply call it being progressive or choice. We know the lesson already but for whatever reason choose to ignore that. We want to believe the outcome will somehow be different. The motivation to do so will vary over time but the outcome generally remains the same. We call that being righteous. To be right, particularly in a moral fashion, is to be righteous. And being righteous is the ultimate trump card. You can't argue with righteousness unless you are more righteous than the other people. Right makes might?
No, might doesn't make it right, but it does make it happen. You can't force people to behave in a moral fashion. It is something I have said repeatedly, you can't legislate morality. We attempt to legislate ethics. Ethics are what guide us to behave in a moral fashion. We all have our individual set of ethics existing within the framework of societal morality. That is why we see so many contradictions in all of that. Consider the church today. The Pope has given his blessing and the blessing of the church to gay marriages. The Catholic church will still not perform a gay marriage but they will bless it. Ethics and morality. Blessing a sin? Well, depends upon who you ask about that. That wasn't done in the past but it is now.
It's a tricky business this righteousness stuff. We associate that with religion. You are being righteous when you follow the teachings and doctrines of a specific religion. The only issue being each religion has a different set of standards, a different doctrine and a different lesson to learn. There are more than 45,000 denominations of Christianity alone! Whereas each may hold the same basic tenets each has a different view of what is right or righteous. It's the same with every other religion in the world as well.
As a result some individuals will reject all deities, all suggestion of a higher power, and establish their own ethics and morals. They reject the idea that there is reward or punishment after death. For them, it is one and done. That would certainly influence your ethics. As long as I can avoid any negative consequences while I'm here, I'm free to do as I please. The only restraint being civil law.
The government sets the ethical and moral standard I should adhere to. In short, if the government says it is okay, it's just fine, no matter what that is. Capital punishment, abortion, marriages, or even our choice on dying, (assisted suicide). Some are now calling that a medical procedure because suicide isn't condoned. But if you have a terminal illness and just don't want to deal with that reality, medical intervention is perfectly fine. Doctors in their righteousness can help you out! It's the right thing to do.
It is only through the acceptance of the past that we can move forward. Any attempts to change, rewrite or somehow modify the past is fruitless, a waste of time. The past isn't a secret. It is there for all of us to read and study. We can all determine what happened and why it happened. The motivations of man haven't changed over time. The only thing changing is our reaction to them. Even then we will repeat those actions given a few generations. We will try again. Yes history really does repeat itself. It isn't the intelligence of man that moves us forward, it is the spirit of man. Injustice and conflict will continue no matter how intelligent we become. We go forward in righteousness. And the thing is this, I'm right. That's what we all believe. Without an answer key, no one can argue with that. The answers aren't in the past, the answer is today, right now.
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