An old comic strip, Pogo the Possum, was known to say frequently “We have met the enemy and it is us”. Look at US society. Rules and laws are broken constantly. Ethical behavior is so uncommon that it makes headlines when someone exhibits a good conscience. Companies prefer to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. Profit motives drive illegal/unethical decisions prompting competitors to follow suit so they can compete effectively. We’ve always had a degree of chicanery in our midst. But that was always the exception–now it tends to be the rule. Maybe you’ve heard the old saying “if you can trust people in small matters, you can trust them in big matters”. Apply that logic to road manners and traffic law breakers. The next time you drive anywhere we challenge you to count the number of drivers who run stop signs, fail to yield the right-of-way, speed excessively, crash through stop lights, etc. If they don’t respect small laws (in relation to say, murder) how can you expect them to be trustworthy in bigger impact situations? An observation: do you remember the outcry when traffic cameras were installed in your neighborhood? No one could deny their accuracy and efficiency. And there is no doubt that they made the road safer. But angry residents (let’s just call them what they are “speeders”) were unhappy that they couldn’t break the law now and get away with it. The cameras were removed. Just like ethics were removed from much of our society. Only now even the judges are part of the scene. Check out the US Supreme Court, Aileen Cannon, and others who are supposed to set the example. Any questions?
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