A Lost Culture

Adjudicators, ladies and gentlemen, the world has achieved brilliance without conscience.

We live in an amazingly prosperous world, in a time where we can do things our ancestors never dreamed of as being remotely possible. The world has achieved brilliance, as my opening quote from Omar Bradley stated, but it is brilliance without conscience. Sure, we’ve sent man to the moon, cloned a sheep, created artificial intelligence, made huge discoveries about human genetics and solved the mystery of the creation of the universe. But while we have gained, and are still gaining, boundless knowledge, we have lost what is fundamentally important. We have lost an entire culture – the culture of social responsibility.

What ever happened to the simple “please” and “thank you”? Where is the traditional family unit hiding? And when, for Pete’s sake, did we do away with empathy, courtesy and selflessness?

These are major issues in today’s “Me, Myself and I” society. For many people, it’s about looking out for number one, but what about caring about other people? Of course, there are exceptions; there are still people who care. Some people remain empathic, polite and compassionate. But the majority – the “Me, Myself and I” people – is overwhelming. Once upon a culture past, it was commonplace for people to use one of my favourite words - “please”. Now, that wonderful word has been replaced by the not so wonderful phrase “I want”. A cashier says “How can I help you?” and the customer all too often replies with a list beginning with “I want” and ending with the final item of the list. Or whatever phrase applies, such as “take away” or “and be quick, I’m in a hurry”.

Now, really, when did “May I please have this one, thanks?” become so hard to say? It is a common courtesy, a fundamental part of a happy society. When we lost the culture of social responsibility, we lost what was really important.

But, of course, we lost more than just common courtesy when; we also lost selflessness, the understanding that it is humanly possible to give and not want anything in return. How many times have you walked into a shop and asked to have a note changed for coins, or vice versa, and be told that it is impossible to have your cash changed unless you purchase something? What has happened to compassion? Some people find it amazingly difficult to give without receiving payment.

For example, many governments give what is called “boomerang aid” – aid paid to a country with one catch: pay it back. The repayment might be the purchase of infrastructure and materials from the loaner, the promise of peace or access to resources such as oil, but it all boils down to one thing: nothing is selfless, even if the aid is given to the most undeveloped of nations. It must still be paid back. It doesn’t matter if the aid-giver is the richest government in the world; they will want their $3.7 billion back. It doesn’t matter that the amount is barely 0.5% of the country’s gross national income – it must be repaid. It doesn’t matter that Afghanistan, one of the many countries receiving aid, has a gross national income of $263 per capita, the $3.7 billion in ‘aid’ must be repaid in whatever way possible. It is a vicious cycle that leaves many developing countries in debt for millions, even billions of dollars. It is everyday selfishness on a global scale.

The culture of social responsibility does not only include politeness and generosity. Compassion is a major part of social responsibility. After all, being able to understand and care about people is the basis of every relationship. But it seems that very few people really care. Unfortunately, one can not help but notice the uncompassionate people of the world. In today’s society, it is all too normal for people to focus only on themselves. This emotional tunnel-vision is not the way it is meant to be.

Even though we have lost the culture of social responsibility, it is possible to get it back. We just need to put in that little bit of effort, slip a “please” into that request, be a little more selfless. If every person in the world – approximately 6.6 billion people – all tried to regain the lost culture of social responsibility, think of how the world would change! Because at the moment, the world may indeed have achieved brilliance, but it is brilliance without conscience.