Losing our direction
Placing responsible behaviour on a par with irresponsible behaviour is counter-productive.
“The first effect of not believing in God is that you lose your common sense.” These words of wisdom by G. K. Chesterton deserve serious reflection.
Few will deny that many of us have a sinking feeling that our society is losing its common sense and awareness of God. Our sense of right or wrong is now open to debate.
Any attempt to take a stand on traditional issues exposes us to being branded ‘fundamentalists’; of being ‘dogmatic’. Such branding seems sufficient to disqualify a person from taking part in any meaningful discussion on issues that really matter.
With remarkable folly, many Maltese seem hell bent on getting rid of our traditions. As Fr Paul Chetcuti said so eloquently recently in this column, we seem determined to shoot down taboos. This trend of questioning traditionally-held values is now considered the hallmark of emancipation and sophistication.
Unfortunately, as in so many countries in the western world, Malta is adopting the prevalent culture that promotes the idea that instant gratification is the highest good known to man. Self-indulgence has been promoted as a sign of positive mental health, while self-restraint has come to represent a sign of mental imbalance.
The doctrine of not being judgemental, which is just indifference masquerading as tolerance, is now corrupting public opinion and is increasingly being accepted as unassailable. According to this avant-garde doctrine, there is no virtue except a failure to condemn, and no vice except holding a belief that one way of life is better than another.
The only goal of public policy has been reduced to grappling with the symptoms by promoting risk reduction. For instance, drug addicts are provided with sterile needles, promiscuity is addressed by peddling condom use and the offer of vaccines that wrongly imply that irresponsible behaviour can be indulged in safely.
Also, parents’ rights and responsibilities are being abused as government authorities foist so-called sex-education on younger age groups without any thought of the different maturing levels of their subjects. The exponential growth of pregnancies in the very young is an indication of sad results of these wrong-headed policies that have already failed elsewhere.
In our much-vaunted free and pluralist society, it is not the duty of the state to produce virtuous citizens, or to enforce virtue. It can, however, encourage one form of behaviour over another. It can, for example, stop pretending that it is of no consequence whether a child has one parent or two. Very often, legislation trying to place responsible and irresponsible behaviour on a par is counter-productive.
It does not require much imagination to realise that pandering to a society with values that can be stretched like an elastic band to please everybody is doomed to please no one. Such policies always fall flat on their face.
We have seen this happen elsewhere. Irresponsibility breeds more irresponsibility and this leads to an ever increasing dependence on the state, which in the long run is unsustainable and destroys the social fabric.
Unfortunately, political rivalry has been reduced to bidding at an auction sale, where each group tries to outbid the other in offering this, that or the other to a gullible electorate and trying to placate strident pressure groups irrespective of the justification of their demands.
This is the anti-thesis of sound politics, which is a crucial vocation for society’s welfare. We need to change tack and educate the public to realise that actions have consequences and that we all have our share, at various levels of responsibility, in the unfolding of our country’s destiny.
Standing on the sidelines or just following trends that seem to win popularity is fundamentally unethical and un-Christian.
All people in positions of leadership, be it media, politics, education or otherwise, should have sufficient courage and integrity to go to the roots of our social malaise and realise that our traditions and time-hallowed values should be safeguarded and promoted.
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Pule' Carmel
Jul 13th 2012, 00:47
When anyone loses direction there are two essences he want to find.
1. How far away is he from position he wants to be.
2. The direction to take to bring him where he wants to be.
The interesting aspect of all this is that every individual due to his inherited intelligence and his environmental influence seems to think that , his own position and his own values are the one and only to follow when in fact there are a multitude of values to follow, the problem is which one to follow, for in the eye of each beholder, his own values are best. I cannot see a christian accepting the Sharia Law, and I cannot see a Muslim accepting some christian values! you see they both think that they are right.
because of this the last state is impossible to be reached.
"All people in positions of leadership, be it media, politics, education or otherwise, should have sufficient courage and integrity to go to the roots of our social malaise and realise that our traditions and time-hallowed values should be safeguarded and promoted."
Social values which are hell to one community may be heaven for another.
We do not have to go far, as a simple example will indicate all this.
* A medically sick society would be hell to society itself, but a doctor would do well out of that.
* A criminal society would be hell to society , but a "good" lawyer would cross the border to help them and defend them making a name for himself. In a healthy society, doctors do not flourish and in a not criminal society lawyers will not be needed.
* I can also dream of a good society where values will be such that even religions are not needed
Kenneth Cassar
Jun 21st 2012, 10:20
"The first effect of not believing in God is that you lose your common sense"
Words of wisdom? Looks more like prejudice and xenophobia to me.
Mario Schembri Wismayer
Jun 5th 2012, 22:24
Very well put. Mr Vella Bardon has hit several nails squarely on the head. The problem lies with creating a shift in the mentality of convenience and of trying to be all things to all men which has taken hold over the couple of braincells which are deciding the way these issues unfold and are assimilated into our society at a national level. I don't see any solution on the horizon, especially not after the divorce referendum was actually given the go ahead. I also think that things will get worse, rather than better if there is a change in government. Looks like we're stuck between a rock and a hard place...
Ramon Casha
Jun 3rd 2012, 12:31
Clearly G. K. Chesterton was a man of many words but little wisdom. One of the causes of losing faith in deities is gaining common sense. It is a good thing that we question and challenge our sense of morality. If we did not, then women would still be treated as inferior to men and there would be a slave market where you can buy your own slaves. This is the morality of the BIble, and I'm talking New Testament here, not Old Testament. Certainly we make mistakes along the way, but it is undeniable that the morality of today is light years ahead of what it was when the Bible was written, or when the church had the authority to decide on the life or death of whoever it disapproved of. Our modern, non-god-based morality did away with burning people alive or killing women accused of being witches. Our "traditions and time-honoured values" should therefore be examined with a critical, secular, rational eye and only if they are sound should they be safeguarded or promoted. If not, they should be discarded with a good riddance.
Anthony Galea
Jun 12th 2012, 12:07
'One of the causes of losing faith in deities is gaining common sense'
So it's only atheists who have common sense?
And what about the atheists who are more repressive than deists (such as the North Korean or Chinese governments)? Do they also lack common sense or does their lack of belief in God give them a common sense which deist democrats lack?
Kenneth Cassar
Jun 21st 2012, 10:24
@ Anthony Galea:
Ramon Casha never said or implied that it's only atheists who have common sense. Chesterton (and Vella Bardon), on the otherhand, did evince his prejudice and xenophobia by claiming that atheists lack common sense.
Mr Emanuel Farrugia
Jun 3rd 2012, 11:23
Direction for our times - JESUS
John 14:6 ~ Jesus said to him, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Acts 16:31 ~ So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household. "JESUS CHRIST IS OUR WONDERFUL COUNSELOR" - He can keep us out of trouble in the first place; that is, if we seek His advise at all times. Jesus Christ is our Wonderful Counselor; He doesn't make mistakes like the rest of us. Jesus Christ's death upon the cross, provided us with the perfect way to uproot the evil from our lives, once for all times, and to once again plant in ourselves the perfect garden.
The Scripture says of Jesus, "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him" (Col. 1:16). Jesus created all things and it is "for Him" that they were created. In Jesus Christ is found the meaning of existence.
Emanuel Farrugia [TARXIEN] former student Faculty of Theology UOM
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