(Warning this post has strong language.)
I had the impeachment hearing on in the background as I was working. While I mostly had it on for the noise, every once in a while, something was said that caught my attention. One of the items was when a Congressman commented on the “lack of common decency.”
This phrase stuck with me. The hypocrisy of this coming from a House of Representative member was fantastic. I have seen enough videos of both sides of the aisle to know that “common decency” has left our political system long ago. Actually, if you read history you wonder if it was really ever existed.
After thinking about it for a while, I realize to my great disappointment that I must agree with the statement. I realized this had been something that has been happening for years.
Like most things, the change has happened over time and has become such a part of life we haven’t noticed it. Even worse, we have accepted it without any fight.
One of the strong evidence of my belief is how often and accepted “fuck” is said in public. Even worse it used in everyday conversations. I have said the word more than once in my life, but it is rare and has strong emotions to it. The word has a place in our language but is it needed in every sentence?
Without sounding like my father, a former big-band horn player, today’s music has an impact on our sense of decency also. Many of the new music has lyrics that call females “bitches” and “whores” in some variations. How is that being respectful to women? How is this honoring women? I wish this were an original idea, it comes from Andy Stanley, but if we honestly want to honor and respect women we must remove anything from our playlists that address women as bitches and whores.
In a society where we are not allowed to see and address the actual difference between men and women, the breakdown of social norms of decency is a natural result. Let’s be clear that men and women are equal and should have the same opportunities, however, we are not the same. Just as no two men are the same, no two women are the same. Physically, thank God, men and women are not created the same. How can anyone look at a naked picture of a man and a woman than say they are created the same. Equal yes! The same, No.
Why can’t we “agree to disagree,” everyone has a topic or two that are part of our core beliefs. These core beliefs are part of your foundations of who we are. One of those for me is my belief in Jesus and His resurrection. I have study other religions and have many great discussions about them. I have friends that don’t believe or believe in something else. Since we disagree, am I supposed to stop caring for them or never have any other discussions with them about sports, politics, or how cute their dog is? Of course not, but that what is happening in our world today because people have forgotten to look beyond and treat people with respect.
If we want common decency to come back we are going to have:
- to look into ourselves.
- To begin treating people with respect and honor even though we may disagree on a topic or two.
- To start looking for the good in the other person.
- To stop looking for what is wrong with others.
- To stop judging them by our generalizations
- To treat others as a person and not as part as a group
- To allow others to have their own thoughts.
If we honestly broke down everyone into subgroups, we would find we all have something in common in one form or another. Let’s start looking for what we have in common, instead of what makes us different for a change. It might open our world and make it a happier place for all.