It amazes me how some people feel that they are exempted from the morality held by everyone else. If something is morally wrong for one person, then it is wrong for all others as well. Morality is universal and the ends never justify the means.
Take slavery, for example. Nearly all of humanity is in agreement that slavery is morally unacceptable, for if it were acceptable for one man to own another, then he may be owned as well. Slavery is a pillar that props up empire and industry. Two thousand years ago, a Roman could argue that Rome would fall if slavery were abolished. The plantation owner could argue that the cotton industry would fail if the slaves were freed. The bankers of today could argue that society would collapse if their debt slaves were freed. It makes no difference, slavery of all forms are evil.
Likewise, theft is also wrong, regardless of the thief and the victim. The hoodlum on the street, the gangster of organized crime, and the thieves of government all carry with them the threat of violence. The state can’t be morally right when it steals the livelihood of the citizen. Robbing Peter to pay Mary is an excuse to keep part of the proceeds and insure there is anger and unrest in the land.
There is no easy walk to freedom; the path to glorious liberty is a rocky road. We need to take the chance to be conscientious and object to the evils in a corrupt land. We need to break out of the enslavement we’ve been indoctrinated into and work towards not today’s tomorrow with its hopelessness and constant sorrow, but towards the tomorrow of yesterday, full of the hope and power of a pioneering people.
Excellent post. There are different kinds of slavery in this world.
You may want to watch a film I just saw a couple of days ago: “The International”. I thought it was very good. It was about this guy who investigates this European bank and this bank’s relationship with arms manufacturers. One of the key lines in the film was when this older man says that the bank wants to get involved with arms sales, not because it wants to control the conflict, but because that bank wants to control the debt. The more people that are indebted to the bank, the more slaves they have.
I am very well aware of the issues with the banks. It’s one of those being slapped in the face moments when one becomes becomes aware of a terrible ugliness in the world and feels the horror reaching within. Too bad for those horrors that I continue to try and make a difference in the lives of others even though so few pull back the curtain because they are afraid to know the truth.