I'm Completely Out of Touch
I have been told by people that don't know me, that because I am not Christian, that the Law is the only thing preventing me from stealing from others, or from killing others.
Yeah, in the absence of Christ's Love™, it seems, it's quite impossible to be possessed of decency or morals: only my mindless adherence to the letter of the U.S. Law is saving y'all from being killed and stolen from by me.
I suppose I should also be apologizing to Sam for asking him to believe that I love him, apologizing for my gender—for how can two men really love each other? Preposterous!—and making restitution for the false expectations I've given him. While I'm at it, I should apologize to Jesus, huh? Because I'm a radical who flouts the status quo in hopes of ushering in profound changes that lead to a better society.
In all seriousness, folks, I had no idea there were so many children, teens, college folks and supposedly fully-realized adults who were petty usurpers of decency, possessed of prehensile souls.
Comments
If I recall from my high school psychology class, there's a stage of early childhood intellectual development in which an individual is not yet capable of differentiating one's own self from others. Could their inability to see that different ways of developing moral or ethical standards is a manifestation of being stalled in this earlier period of mental development?
Posted by: Jeffrey | December 10, 2004 08:04 AM
I waffle between thinking that the people you speak of have 1) lived amid such homogeneity as not possess a broad enough perspective to comprehend the possibility of being functional and unlike them and 2) that these poor folks have chosen their path of disbelief and judgement because of some trauma (in a very broad sense) they've experienced.
And yet, I also believe that there are reasons and there are excuses, but that sometimes the reason for something does not excuse it.
Posted by: Josh | December 10, 2004 10:31 AM
Ironically, inside the conservative, Bush-sign-displaying housing development in which I live (ca. 1hr outside Philly), the conservatives appear to believe that if you've got the morals that come from being christian (ptui), it's okay to run stopsigns and flagrantly disobey our Development's bylaws, regardless of how they impose upon others or of how these actions put their own children in danger on a daily basis.
This leads me to believe that I wouldn't have to obey the law if I were christian (ptui).
Halleluiah!
Posted by: Scott | December 13, 2004 05:23 AM