BEING DUTIFUL IS THE CORNERSTONE OF ANY CIVILIZATION

BEING DUTIFUL IS THE CORNERSTONE OF ANY CIVILIZATION

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

We are living in a period of time where too many people are self-absorbed. The possibilities are endless in this electronic age. People play on their cell phones instead of conversing with family and friends who are right next to them. They choose to live a virtual existence on their Facebook pages rather than solving difficulties and enjoying real life. We have become the “me generation” on steroids.

Modern parents are devoted to making money. Their duty of raising their family and caring for their parents and relatives has taken a back seat. The elderly parents of their adult offspring are put in nursing homes. Most modern parents use daycare, school and afterschool programs to teach and train their children. These parents are “givers of things” to win their children’s favor. Even children’s family obligations such as chores have been abandoned or are paid for with substantial allowances for assisting with the simplest activity. Modern children are unconsciously being taught to be slackers/takers not producers/givers.

It is little wonder new generations are less likely to pitch in when they see a person in need. Although many people look the other way when they see people in need there are some who rush in to do the right thing. There are incidents where a small child is locked in a hot car and is seen by a stranger. The person informs the officials and proceeds to break the window to save the child’s life. Other heroes put themselves in danger by rushing into a burning building or car to save someone. Some people are willing to do the right thing to help others regardless of the consequences to themselves but are becoming progressively rare.

It should be the duty of every human being to help each other. There is no way any government regardless of the number of employees can substitute for people doing their duty. The most good intentioned government employee is restricted by time and bureaucratic red tape to spontaneously decide on their own to assist the person in need. They have a heavy predetermined caseload to manage.

Great civilizations such as the Incas, the Roman Empire and Chinese dynasties understood the need for citizens to do their duty. The emperor, great military strategists and philosopher of the Roman Empire, Marcus Aurelius, understood the importance of citizens internalizing the concept of duty. Decadence and disorder arose when people became self-absorbed. As the leader of the most powerful civilization of the world he instituted a campaign to help people understand their duty, acceptance of one’s faith and well being of all the people. It revitalized the empire.

Confucius, the great Chinese philosopher codified and taught to establish and maintain social order people had to be responsible to each other. Leaders should lead by positive virtues rather than by force. Confucius stressed superiors should set good examples for inferiors while inferiors owed loyalty and obedience to their superiors. He found these plus other moral values of honesty, hard work and concern for others in highly functioning societies. Confucius’s ideas spread throughout the world.

Our founding fathers realized government could not legislate morality. They understood the importance of the belief in God and relying on God in everyday life of citizens. These educated men learned from studying history that men needed moral and ethical values generally communicated by religion to do the right thing when no one was there to look over their shoulders.

Wise leaders intuitively realize that when citizens lose the interconnectedness to others the glue of the society disintegrates. The self-centeredness of citizens of developed nations has weakened the family and the social order of the nation. The citizens of these nations expect the government to care for them instead of caring for each other. This entitlement mentality has dissolved the social fabric of these societies and has led to dissention, the breakdown of law and order as well as random acts of violence.

As President John F. Kennedy said in his inaugural speech, “It is not what your country can do for you, it is what you can do for your country.” Current advanced nations need to reassess their out-of-control welfare policies. Government robbing productive citizens through confiscating their assets only alienates them from the non-productive people who are receiving handouts provided by those who produce.

This divides people by eliminating the ability of doers to willingly assist welfare recipients.  The all-powerful state divides the doers from the takers robbing the doers’ assets by taxation making it financially impossible to do their duty to the less fortunate.

For any civilization to thrive people need to support and help others to become self-sufficient and self-reliant. It starts in the most powerful social unit in a society: the family. The revitalizing of the family will result in citizens doing their duty in all facets of life. This makes society function smoothly, effectively and efficiently.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.