So this is a “suggested” Rant by one of my followers on Tumblr. He suggested that I do one on morals. Since today there is a lot of activity surrounding this. There is the war going on in Syria, the Presidential election season here in the U.S., for a couple of examples. One way or another we all try to push our own morals onto everyone around us.
What are “morals”? According to Dictionary.com “morals” are: of, relating to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conductor the distinction between right and wrong; ethical: moral attitudes. 2.expressing or conveying truths or counsel as to right conduct, as a speaker or a literary work. 3. founded on the fundamental principles of right conduct rather than on legalities, enactment, or custom: moral obligations. 4. capable of conforming to the rules of right conduct: a moral being. 5.
conforming to the rules of right conduct (opposed to immoral ): a moral man. 6. virtuous in sexual matters; chaste. 7. of, relating to, or acting on the mind, feelings, will, or character: moral support.
The subject came up because of the County Clerk in Kentucky, U.S. who just recently was found in contempt of court and was ordered to jail. Her crime? She withheld same sex marriage licenses after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality. The reason? To her, it is morally wrong for two people of the same sex to get married. It is her religious belief that made her not go against her morals, and went to jail instead. Now she has two choices to get out of jail. #1 is that she can start to issue the licenses in accordance with the Supreme Court, or #2 she can resign. I’m hoping that she takes option #1, but if she is willing to go to jail for her morals I’m thinking it will be #2 in the end.
What are some of my morals that I have? I think it is morally wrong to have the death penalty. Sure, I get that who ever is on Death Row is there because they committed murder on someone else. But the reason I am morally against it is, now this is going to sound really stupid coming from me for those that know me, is the Bible says “Thou Shalt Not Kill”. I’m not a big firm believer in the Bible, but this is one thing that I think it got right. And “Thou Shalt Not Kill” includes anybody. For any reason. Including the punishment of murder. Another moral that I have is that I am against slavery. And no I’m not talking about the U.S. Civil War type of slavery. I am talking about any type of slavery where there are people that are being held to do things that are against their own wishes and they have no control over it. That would include pimps and their prostitutes, warlords taking people and forcing them to fight or be human bombs. It would be the coyotes of Mexico, or asian countries, who will take people across the border, but them make them work for them to pay off the debt. That is the type of slavery that I am morally against.
I think that morals are things that get deeply ingrained into our culture from hundreds, and sometimes thousands of years ago too. Take the whole “one man, one woman” marriage thing for example again. We here in the U.S. see it as morally wrong to have more than one wife, or husband. Yes, I’m talking about polygamy. But when you look at it, is there anything that is humanly wrong with it? I don’t think so. Is it possible for one man, or one woman, to be married to several people of the opposite sex and have everything work out fine? I’m sure there is. Just look at the compounds that you see out in Utah with that radical wing of the Latter Day Saints church. One man being married to several women seems to be working out there. Of course what got that guy in trouble, and other like him, is that he started to marry the underage girls, and having sex with them. Whow, stop your horses right there!
Morals may be a great thing to follow, but unfortunately, laws still trump morals. Going back to our Country Clerk, the Supreme Court ruled that marriage equality is now the law of the land. If your morals are going to interfere with the performance of your job, then you’re going to need to find a new job. With the guys out in Utah who’s morals say for them it is OK to marry someone who is underage, laws trump again. You may be able to love them as your wife, but you’re going to have to hold off on the sexual relations and the marriage until they turn 18.
And when you look at the world view of morals, I think you’ll be like me and realize that it is morals that have been behind pretty much every war there has ever been. Think about this: A country is doing something that we here in the West thing is morally wrong. So what do we do about it? We would probably hit them with some sort of sanction to get them to follow what we think is right. But they may have been doing there there for thousands of years. How about the story, and sorry I don’t have the link for this one, recently about the woman who was stoned to death for having an adulterous affair? If I remember right it was a Middle Eastern country that this happened in where their morals about adultery are way more extreme than they are here in the U.S. Here if you have an adulterous affair and get caught, the worst that happens is you get slapped with divorce papers, and you end up paying alimony and child support. The militaries morals about adultery are a bit more severe where you can still go to jail if caught there because of the impact it can have on the job. But in the Middle East where they still take adultery very seriously, you can be put to death.
So morals are what we as individuals think is right and wrong. And every person, every country, every region, is going to have different morals. What I think is morally right, may totally offend you. And what you think is morally right may totally offend me. But the trick is to get along, and try to understand everyone’s morals before just going off on the deep end over them. But if the law counters what your morals are, then you are just going to have to work to be sure your morals don’t cross the line, because unfortunately the laws are set by the majority. And if enough people with your same morals comes into the majority, then we can change the laws in favor of your morals. Do I hold anything against the County Clerk for believing in her morals and standing up for them? Absolutely not. This is a great country where you can stand up to the laws in a civil defiance like hers. The only thing she did wrong was because she is an elected civil servant who is supposed to adhere to the laws of land, defied them. For that, you are going to get punished. Hopefully she doesn’t spend to much time in jail. Honestly, I haven’t checked in the last few days, hopefully she is out even as I write this.
This was kind of a long winded Rant, but I hope I got my point across. Thank you for the suggestion for the Rant. If you have something you would like to here my opinion on, then just send me an Ask, or a Fan Mail.
Love to you all as always!
~Ryan
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