What this country sorely lacks right now is moral absolutes. We’re long on opinions but short on facts, long on rants but short on reason, long on talk but short on action. Until we challenge the idea that everyone is “entitled” to an opinion and all opinions are entitled to equal respect and air time, finding a route out of this moral morass looks pretty hopeless.
One might think that zero tolerance for killing people would be a moral stake that could be driven into the solid earth and around which every last person would rally. It’s absolutely wrong to kill people; therefore, finding a solution to the gun problem–which we alone among the civilized countries of the earth possess–would shake citizens to their knees. It would sound the alarms in the halls of Congress, and finding a solution would be the first item on their agenda in the aftermath of yet another mass shooting. Taking action would be the only moral course; and failing to take action in the face of such preventable tragedies would be the gravest of moral failures, leaving no room for debate or contrary opinions. One might think.
In 21st-century America, however, nothing is absolute. Republicans, Democrats, victims of gun injuries, families of fatal shooting victims, the National Rifle Association, and people who pay no attention to what goes on beyond their own walls have an equal say in how the problem is treated. Or not treated. The Pew Research Center reports this:
“In 2017, the most recent year for which complete data is available, 39,773 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S., according to the CDC.” That number is double the population of the town in which I grew up. That’s two Troy, Ohios wiped out in one year.
Of the 39,773 deaths by gunshot in 2017, 60% (23,854) were suicides; 37% (14,542) were murders; 486 were unintentional; 553 involved law enforcement; and 338 had “undetermined circumstances.” I concede that many of those deaths could not have been prevented, but many of them could have been. What’s our buy-in number that makes it worth the effort of having a conversation, sacrificing some of our individual “rights” and freedoms, and taking action even though we know we’ll never satisfy everyone or eliminate the whole problem? Would it be 30,000? 25,000? 20,000? 1,000? Would 100 saved lives be enough for us to care?
What’s your number? I’m reminded of the Old Testament tale of Sodom and Gomorrah. Before beginning to rain fire on those communities, God warns Abraham of what’s about to happen. Abraham, whose nephew Lot lives there, begins negotiating to prevent the destruction. God has determined to destroy the cities because of the exceedingly evil people living there, but Abraham points out that there must certainly be righteous people also, people who do not deserve the same fate as the wicked. He begins by asking God to spare the cities if he can find 50 righteous people; apparently lacking confidence that 50 righteous people can be found, Abraham continues to negotiate, reducing the number to 45, then 40, then 30, 20, and 10. Each time, God agrees to withhold destruction to spare the lives of those who don’t deserve punishment, even if it’s just ten. You remember the end: only Lot and his family can be considered righteous, so they are allowed to escape just ahead of the fire.
What’s your number? How many good, innocent lives would make it worth changing your attitudes, your votes, your principles, your personal lifestyle? For all too many families, just one saved life would have been enough; but lack of moral conviction on the part of their fellow citizens and their elected representatives has left gaping holes in their families that no amount of time will close.
Here’s the point. If we as a people genuinely believed that killing is morally wrong, we’d have done whatever was necessary to save lives years ago. All we have to do is look at how other civilized countries have done and follow their lead. If as I sit here at my computer, I begin to smell smoke, I’m going to take immediate action: leave my seat, check every room of the house, and if I do find smoke or flames, call 911 and get the hell out of here.
I live in Florida, so I know all about hurricane warnings, and I’ve spent a few hours of my life making hurricane preparations, sometimes for storms that never showed up and other times for storms that damaged my home and created a huge mess in my yard. I have rarely regretted making the preparations, even for those which proved to be false alarms, because I know what it looks like when a hurricane actually hits, and I’d rather prepare for nothing than not to prepare for something.
People with moral conviction and courage take action. People who do not take action but who allow themselves to be swayed by “opinions” and false equivalents are willing to accept death as a reasonable trade-off for holding onto some imagined “right.” Even the deaths of children just sitting in their school desks.
I ask again: What’s your number?
It’s not just guns either. For 957 days, we’ve had a “president” who, by all sane evaluation, is a criminal and a con man; is the most uninformed, ignorant person ever to disgrace the office; has no moral compass; has the emotional stability and the vocabulary of a 5-year-old (sorry, 5-year-olds!); has told over 12,000 lies publicly, in the carrying out of his official duties; has attacked citizens, law makers, and dead people; has been on the grounds of his golf courses 229 times (thegolfnewsnet.com); has blatantly violated the Emoluments Clause of our Constitution by using his own properties for official events and diplomatic visits; was the subject of an extended FBI and special counsel investigation; has a number of close associates now serving or about to serve prison terms; has close associates who have allegedly committed the most vile crimes; is a racist; is xenophobic; is cruel to refugees and other immigrants, both legal and undocumented; stirs division and hatred everywhere he goes; can’t complete a coherent sentence; and is in charge of our country’s nuclear codes. He has alienated our allies and cozied up to our adversaries. He “fell in love” with Kim Jong Un and has never said a single word in denunciation of Vladimir Putin.
Everything in the preceding list is on public record. We know all of this, we discuss it over dinner, we grouse about it at work with colleagues, and we rant about it on social media. We listen to the talking heads parse and dissect it all on the nightly news. Yet we collectively don’t believe any of this is morally wrong, because we have allowed this person to remain in our highest office for 957 days, one of our major political parties is going to nominate him to do it all again for another four years, and millions of our fellow citizens can’t wait to cast their votes for him.
Our Congress says they’ll think about impeachment, take a look at the evidence and see where it goes. So befriending murderous dictators, pissing off our allies, and telling 12,000 lies is not “evidence”? What kind of moral code is that?
Donald Trump famously said after the Charlottesville tragedy that there were “good people on both sides,” and he’s been lambasted for that. But are we any better? We look at life-and-death controversies and take no action because many of us apparently believe there are good people and valid opinions on both sides. Anyone showing too much outrage against a morally outrageous event is judged equally wrong and hateful for calling out wrong and hatred when they see it.
False equivalence keeps us wallowing in the mud of inaction. Every person, every group of people, and every political party is guilty of wrongdoing, but all wrongs are NOT equal. Supporting a criminal POTUS is wrong. Allowing thousands of people to continue being killed by gunshot every year is wrong. Speaking out against those wrongs is NOT wrong. Pointing out a POTUS’s lies is not wrong and not an act of hatred. But unless we draw some lines in the sand, unless we’re willing to declare moral absolutes by which every reasonable person is willing to abide, we’re in a perilous state.
Our house is on fire. A Cat 5 hurricane has already made landfall. Yet we continue to act as if nothing out of the ordinary is happening, as if this is just business as usual, another regular administration to be judged by the regular criteria. Talk is cheap. Right now we have too much talk and too little action.
Establishing moral absolutes requires moral courage, and having moral courage means taking action when action is demanded. Your stated convictions are only as sincere as your willingness to act on them. Some things are absolutely wrong, and if we believe that down deep where it counts, we’ll do something about it. What’s your number? Where is your line in the sand?
I leave you with a few thoughts to ponder.
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” Thomas Paine
“Nothing strengthens authority so
much as silence.”
― Leonardo da Vinci
“Silence becomes cowardice when
occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
“The point is, there is no feasible excuse for what are, for what we have made of ourselves. We have chosen to put profits before people, money before morality, dividends before decency, fanaticism before fairness, and our own trivial comforts before the unspeakable agonies of others.”
― Iain M. Banks, Complicity
“Have I, have you, been too silent? Is there an easy crime of silence?”
― Carl Sandburg
“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But… the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'” –Martin Luther King Jr.
“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” –Martin Luther King Jr.
“The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.” –Martin Luther King Jr.
“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” –Martin Luther King Jr.