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.
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