Beyond Moral Certainty

We seem to have fallen into a rut. Our nation has become so afraid that someone might shirk their responsibility that we have come to the point of micromanaging every aspect of life. The work places of respected professionals have become havens for bureaucrats and mid-level managers. Teachers for instance are not allowed to do their jobs without detailed lesson plans and co-curricular guides, reminding them of salient points that must be made when covering their material. This may help unqualified people keep from being discovered, but it unduly restricts good teachers from staying in the zone and exploiting teachable moments. I once saw a flow chart designed for lawyers to follow that would have allowed the most uneducated person to defend a client. Like training wheels, it might help in the short run, but over time intelligent practitioners might be retarded in their growth by such aids. Even our judges have sentencing guidelines and are overruled if their decisions reach a just outcome without following the absolute letter of the law. Frequently we are assuaged by those who hold sway within our government, our schools and corporations who claim to know what is best for us. I, for one, seriously question the lengths to which we will go trying to make the world "safe" for democracy. We are paralyzed by a fear that someone would make a mistake, so teachers can no longer hug their students, we need to be on guard against offending anyone and slowly but surely overseers are beginning to outnumber actual workers.

We do still respect those who stick their necks out to "do the right thing", but we certainly don't expect anyone to stand up in the face of public opinion. In fact, we often penalize those who come down on the side of right as opposed to the majority opinion.It has been a disorienting trip into the new century, but it seems that we are clinging to all the wrong traditions. In addition, we are heaping urban legend on top of fictional accounts of imaginary threats. The tiny percentage of teachers who wanted to sexually abuse children certainly did not warrant an end to the supportive hug. Fear of offending people certainly isn't worth all the time and effort expended changing to his/her language or nomenclature that hermetically seals in our prejudices. The lack of trust that we have in our fellow humans is exacerbated by the way we cover the news. We all recognize the lengths that newscasters will go to in finding the most heinous news of the day. Within each and every city across the nation there are wonderful things going on all the time, but that news is rarely covered and so, seems novel when we do hear about it. When folks that we deem heroes are recognized they often say the same few words, "I didn't have a choice." or "I acted without thinking." which I contend is the best way to make a positive difference in the world around us. As we shrink the world with our technologies, and reduce further the window of opportunity for action, we must learn to act without filtering our behavior through filters not of our making. As with any art, making the right decisions requires practice and due diligence, learning from our mistakes and trusting in our own abilities.

Treating the whole herd because one animal gets sick is not a good idea for livestock and it is not a good idea for humans either. Mandating behavior only reduces our reliance on our own skills of decision-making. We are currently experiencing the fallout from these bizarre restrictions on the teaching profession, the military and politics. The best and brightest, when confronted with a system that disallows individual differences, lose interest and the motivation to find a better way. When we lose the ability to grow and change, we can no longer serve humanity and the wisest among us know this better than the back of their hands. The way we treat one another is more about what we think of ourselves than what we think about the other. Without trusting one another to make good decisions, there seem to be no other options than to spell out in painful detail what is expected. Not knowing whether we can operate without this sort of oversight disgusts the people of good will and interferes not with those who have nefarious intent. Capable people worldwide seem to be victimized by these restrictions, but the greedy or deceitful seem to go on without being restricted in the least.

We all make mistakes. Learning from them and problem solving itself is a skill that we need to teach. Falling back on regulations is fine for those who cannot think for themselves, but for the vast majority of us that remain sentient, they both hem in our adaptive responses to difficult situations and undermine the trust we may have developed in our ability to make decisions that reflect the common good and our own unique solutions to evolving problems in every field. The perfect person remains an illusion, if we learn to accept that, it will help to bring out the best in everyone. The hardest thing for us to deal with might just be the illusion that we can write flow charts and regulations that have the power to guide us through times that we have never experienced before.