But the schools already teach a morality -- they teach moral relativism. That is a value system. I was certainly first exposed to situational ethics in high school (that was in the late '70s). Many of my peers and younger have told me the same stories, including a 21-year-old friend today who said he just can't relate to the lack of moral centers in his peers today). And even if Beth were correct that they don't teach moral relativism, I think we would all agree that they don't teach morals. And that, too, is teaching a value system -- a value system that says there are no morals (a lesson by omission), there is no right and wrong, all moral and ethical decisions are relative.
We can only surmise what this poor woman thought as she visited her victim every few hours as he lay dying in her windshield -- but is it such a leap in logic to conclude that she thought, "I can't help this man because if I do, I'll get in trouble." That is the thinking of a moral relativist, a situational ethicist. She is thinking, as situational ethicists do, of her own well being first. And the scary thing is, she worked in the health care profession. I don't even think we need to bring G-d into this. Morality isn't purely a religious question. It's also a rational question. We have a responsibility to our fellow humans, especially to render aide when it is within our physical abilities to do so. That is a bright line of morality that you don't need the Bible or the Quran or the Torah or the Bagnagita to teach you. It is something you know instinctively unless it's been propagandized out of you. There is no comparison between the evil that has been wrought in times past, when maybe morality was a little more forcefully taught, and what this woman did. This woman is no Charles Manson, no Jack the Ripper, no Boston Strangler -- criminals who ruthlessly hunted down their victims. This is a woman who probably in her every day life is a very nice lady. She probably even donates to charity. In other words, she's just an average American. But when faced with a tough moral decision, she choose the self-serving action. It's a choice nobody with even a modicum of understanding of personal responsibility could make. And even more telling about the state of morality and ethics in this country is that this women apparently had no trouble finding friends to help her. H. -----Original Message----- From: Jon Hall [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 9:04 PM To: CF-Community Subject: Re: I'm speechless ... More like decades of parents not having the time to teach their children morals. If I had kids, the last thing I'd want teaching my kids morals is the government. Underpaid government workers at that. Our schools can barely teach basic geography, how do you expect them to teach morals? Why play the blame game anyway? No one is to blame except the girl who did this. Legislating morals is not going to stop this kind of event from happening. People cannot sit back and expect the government to take care of everything. I say if you really want to stop this kind of thing, from happening, you should take an active role in a child's life that needs help. I fully plan on getting back into the Boy Scouts once I am financially secure, and have some spare time later in life. I know they kept me out of trouble when I was a kid (mostly...). People have done horrible things since history has been recorded and probably before. People do horrible things in places where there is no public or private education. We can go all the way back to Adam and Eve... People will always do bad things as long as we have free will. Besides, everything is relative. Lets not go there though :) jon [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Do you think, maybe, that this is what decades of our public schools > teaching moral relativism has wrought? > > H. > ______________________________________________________________________ Macromedia ColdFusion 5 Training from the Source Step by Step ColdFusion http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201758474/houseoffusion Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
