What happens to the national moral climate when our government leaders don’t play fair, but have one standard for the USA’s actions and another for everybody else? What happens in hearts and families when our nation’s world leadership is not tied to the provision of basic education, housing, livable wages or health insurance for 40 million of our own citizens?
The vast majority of us live and find our meanings in smaller or larger groups we call communities. Humanistic traditions, including Confucianism, parts of Buddhism and Ethical Culture require human community for their version of human moral development to unfold.
Sadly, without strong communities where shared values are put into action, big hearted people too often settle into individualized resignation, offering their children a model of compassionate but powerless adults, who are ashamed of their own society’s wrongs, but without enough will or organized clout to set things right for more than their own immediate families.
The stakes are high, the hearts and minds of the younger generations. I meet young people who are activists but feel themselves isolated in a sea of apolitical peers, and I meet others whose contempt for the world’s poor makes Fox TV sound “fair and balanced”.
Cynicism, apathy and double standards will be mouthed by people of all ages in a socie-ty where these attitudes are supported by the prevailing culture. We need people in our lives who go against these trends and who live well so doing.
Where do we turn today for examples of ethical living to influence our children? The plain truth is that our values and character are pretty much the sum of the habitual ethical choices we make and those choices are most influenced by the people and communities where our actions matter to others, and where other people concern themselves actively with our wellbeing and conduct. To reap the benefit of a caring community, takes regular enough participation to build the trusting friendships that really carry the community.
So many good people do so many good things at the BSEC. This December we offer several events that can hold some of our dearest values:
1. Giving and Receiving Across Local and Global Boundaries: This year we started a small Holiday Giving Catalogue of people and projects Members and Friends know directly, because we want our community’s members and children to really know how wide is our combined circle of care and resource sharing. We hope to attract your support and that of Dec. 13 Craft Fair customers shopping that day.
2. Celebrating the holidays together With the Winter Festival December 14 the 11:00 community party, again draws together the CSA families and Sunday Platform participants. I especially encourage you to attend this year. We will put together care packages for people in prison for the church of Gethsemene’s monthly visit. We will create our own gifts for people we love. We’ll have fun together.
Posted by Lisel on December 01, 2003