Can We Talk 2

The Plumb Line

         I read about the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It wasn't a bad job of engineering or architectural design. It was a poor foundation that caused it to lean increasingly over the decades. The soil underneath was too soft for such a large building. Reinforcements have given it a bit of a curve that wasn't there originally.

         The article compared it to the plumb line story from the book of Amos, which was aimed at the nation of ancient Israel. At that time there was a great chasm between the wealthy and the poor. The wealthy took advantage of the poor and just kept getting richer and more decadent. The plumb line was laid out in a vision to Amos, in which God found the nation he had built, Israel, "wanting". They had gone astray from the building code he had given them in the law of Moses. They were religious, but weren't practicing justice.

         The article goes on to point to modern nations. You could look at this in political terms or religious terms. It doesn't matter which nation. If you use a plumb line of ideals, of standards, you are lacking. A list of ways in which we are lacking becomes easy to make. Of course, I look at society in general, and not just myself, because it is easier to find other people's shortcomings than it is my own. But eventually, I feel convicted, too.

         First, in most countries, we have many with no respect for human life. The elderly are expendable. The sick and deformed are expendable. Unborn babies are expendable. People who don't believe or behave as we do are expendable; so "we" eliminate them. Terrorists, snipers, suicide terrorists, and paid assassins believe they have the right to take the lives of others. For some of us, we don't get personally involved, but we'd love to have someone else "take out" the groups or individuals that we feel are dangerous or intolerable.

         There is a lack of respect for other people's property. Take what you want. Rob, loot, steal, whatever you can get away with. If you're working at some old person's house, they don't need all that stuff in the garage, you can take it and hide it in your work truck. If you're cleaning someone's house, and you find a ten dollar bill on the floor, that person won't mind if you keep it. Or go through a desk drawer; you find an envelope with cash, take it; they 'll never suspect you. Never mind that you shouldn't have been snooping through drawers.

         That includes damaging someone's car in a parking lot. If they aren't there to see you, you don't need to leave a note that you backed into them, or scraped the paint off with your door, or dinged it with a grocery cart. Don't take personal responsibility for damage to someone's property that you caused. You know how expensive autos are and how expensive repairs are.

         That brings us to personal responsibility and the consequences of your actions. If you camp out in the city park as part of a protest, don't feel like you need to clean up your mess or haul away your garbage. Stay up all night talking, or playing your radio. It's not your problem if other people want to sleep, including people who live nearby. If you damage something in a store, you shouldn't pay for it. Let the store raise the prices so everyone pays for the loss.

         Racism exists in every nation. It is not an exclusive characteristic of white people Serbs hate Bosnians, for example. Greeks hate Turks. Blacks hate whites.French Canadians don't like aboriginals (Indians). Every human being is vulnerable to racism. It shows up in varying degrees, some ways more subtle than others.

         The writer of the article pointed to minimum wage. I have mixed feelings about that. Why should an employee at a fast food joint or Wal-Mart make more than people with college degrees? Or people who have had special training but can't find an opening in their field and locale? Raising the minimum wage in all places will put some businesses "out of business" or raise their prices so high, that eventually they will downsize or close. I, for one, don't like fast food that much, but if a cup of coffee goes any higher, I won't be buying one at a drive-through window. Maybe my paring back won't be such a bad thing, but what if everyone else does the same thing?

         The list of ills could go on, at length, including bad manners, irresponsible parenting, vulgar language in public, serial marriages as the norm, the break-down of the family, materialism, greed, etc. We are in a state of everyone for himself. We do not live for the good of others. I did not say "the common good" on purpose. They are not the same thing. Caring for others, living with a purpose, respecting the earth and others are pretty good guidelines. As a culture, as a nation, and as a world, we are not living up to those guidelines.