Whatever happened to Duty?

I find myself asking the question “what has happened to America?” more often these days than I ever thought possible when growing up on the ‘best face forward’ version of our history. Born and raised in small town Mississippi, educated at good but traditional state colleges and steeped in the legends of the South, I was blind to much of the human tragedy that plagues our nation (and especially the larger world in our incredibly U.S.-centric curriculum) even to this day in many forms. I was luckier than most in that my parents tried to teach me to think for myself, and I had good role models of both races in my school and town, but unconsciously I still participated in the continuing gulf between the races.

Coming back after a decade away, having traveled much of the world and seen both ends of the human experience, I see many aspects of our culture with new eyes. The most intense event of my life was shared with people of many races, religions and backgrounds, but when the moment came we all became one in purpose and performed as a team. Need obliterated the minutia of daily life and revealed the humanity in us all. Though I now see our past through very different eyes thanks to experience and education, there is still much for us to be proud of and to strive to keep alive today. America is an ideal, and ideals can remain pure even when their implementation is oft flawed by human weaknesses.

The seeds of many basic problems came to these shores with the original wave of colonization, holdovers from the Old Countries, including the start of the slave trade and the old class system. And even though I consider the creation of our Constitution and the U.S. to have been a tremendous leap forward for mankind, I recognize that our forefathers were far from perfect and their creation was just a beginning. Saying all men are created equal while legalizing slavery seems hypocritical, but I believe they knew that every great journey is made of many small steps, and it is better to begin and need directions sometimes than to never attempt the journey.

Our Constitution is a living document, and receives directions through the amendment process and Congressional lawmaking, which processes are in the end governed by and responsible to the People. The only certainty in life is change, and as our culture evolves so will our laws: the laws of nature demand we adapt or perish. But what we must not do is surrender those things which make America great, respect for the individual, belief in the rule of law, and duty to each other and our society. I believe our government has lost respect for the individual, that many see the law as guidelines to be exploited or ignored, and that the concept of duty to a greater good has been largely abandoned as passé and/or unprofitable.

Power divorced of responsibility, ever growing govt intrusion and the eternal search for greater profits are the greatest threats to our nation today, and will harm us more than any terrorist ever dreamed possible. Pres. Bush’s secret courts and illegal surveillance programs shows contempt for individual rights in America, Enron and WorldCom show Corporate America (really multinational) will do anything to make a dollar (or pretend to make a dollar), and an epidemic of people blaming personal faults on society thereby avoiding responsibility for them shows the death of personal duty within society at large.

I use the word duty instead of responsibility because it encompasses so much more. If I see another’s child in danger, she may not be my responsibility but it is my duty as a decent human being to protect her, even at risk of my own life. How could I do less and thereafter call myself a man, or a father?

To be continued . . .

Fav Quote: Robert E. Lee once said that “duty is the most sublime word in the English language, one can never do more than ones duty and one should never wish to do less.”