Right and Wrong
I like to read biographies… people, no matter what their walk of life, have always fascinated me. It’s amazing what you can learn from the thoughts and experiences of others. Quite some time ago, I read My Grandfather’s Son by Clarence Thomas. The only thing I really knew about him was faint memories of the scandalous news during his Supreme Court nomination hearings.
He had a very tough life as a kid, was a self-admitted liberal and angry black young man, and worked hard for many years before achieving success. He credits his grandfather, who raised him and his brother, with instilling core values that allowed him to beat the odds and leave the poor circumstances of his youth. In an interview, he said something that has stuck with me ever since:
“You can’t choose right and wrong, you’ve got to choose BETWEEN right and wrong.”
It is his opinion that most of us actually do know the difference between right and wrong… but that, today, too many people spend too much time trying to DEFINE right and wrong rather than just choosing between them.
I think that is profound.
Not that it hasn’t happened since the beginning of humanity, but it seems to be much more routine now to rationalize bad behavior in such a way that it becomes acceptable… that it is no longer bad. I’m not talking about a single individual doing this… I’m talking about large numbers of people. And when that group has enough members, their “voice” is heard… and bad becomes good.
Only it’s not REALLY good.
