Something has gone AWOL and been missing for a long time. There was a period when it was unthinkable to live in a society where only small isolated doses of it were scattered here and there. For some it may be considered antiquated. I don’t know the teacher who dismissed it from class. I don’t know the parents who thought it “cool” to raise their child without it. It’s been absent so long from the forefront of all we do, maybe we’ve come to manage without it…the substratum of a wholesome society…Ethics. 

Ethics- are moral principles that govern a person’s behavior. They may include personal traits such as honesty, kindness, integrity or any other characteristic associated with behavior.

Back when I was attending junior High School, ethics class was mandatory. It was where we learned things that shaped our behavior in a corporate setting. “Please”, “thank you”, “yes ma’am” “no ma’am” were not foreign responses back then. 

Then there’s my Dad’s practice of opening the venue and car doors for my Mother. I realize we live in a time of the independent woman and certain quarters of society do not subscribe to chivalry. 

Yes, she has hands, she can open the door, she’s not deficient, but personally I open the door for my wife. It is my personal symbol of honor to her. When I open the door for another woman, it’s because I was raised with a sense of respect in that regard.

If this is not practiced in your life or relationships, so what? The practices in my life aren’t your template. I just reference the example I saw growing up, and I continued with them, I’m not even saying they were right or wrong, just my exposure. 

I went to a local market one day.  A woman and I approached the door almost simultaneously, so I deferred to her but she strongly INSISTED that she held the door open for me. So I went ahead of her as she opened the door for me. It felt strange, but if I didn’t go in first, we would STILL be standing in that spot today deferring to each other. (LOL!)

In some ways I wonder if we can really be a socially healthy humanity without ethics. They are rudimental. We see the results when not applied even on a global scale. The lack of honesty, kindness and integrity is troubling. Clearly it isn’t everyone, but if we don’t display and model to the next generation, we will perpetuate what we don’t want, simply by default.

I used to relegate ethics to people who subscribed to religion alone. In the early days of my life, I knew people who were ethical but not religious. Ethical people are not necessarily religious people. They typically receive their values passed over through family traditions or something else, whereas religious ethics affect behavior from a biblical premise through conscience.

Do we really need divine proding to say ‘thank you’ for something kind done toward us or a service received? Do we need a holy nudge to place ‘please’ in front of our request? What is the hub of our honesty? Do we need a contract to fulfill what we say we will?

Is being a “good samaritan” to someone in need and never telling a soul about it an impossible feat? Of course not.

I’m on a campaign to resuscitate ethics in every area of my life. May it never get lost again… anablepsis.