“In a world where vows are worthless. Where making a pledge means nothing. Where promises are made to be broken, it would be nice to see words come back into power.” ~Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby
Lately, I have been thinking about the importance of "fundamental values". I purposively invoke the term fundamental as these values seem to be the building blocks that make anything and everything possible. They assure strong, stable communities, encourage reliable behaviour and most importantly set a reasonable standard of care from and to others. They are the values that should guide each and every interaction as well as provide a type of moral framework to draw upon in difficult times and situational grey areas that modern day living seems to perpetuate as technology surges past our ability to ethically negotiate our use of it.
I am not sure what has happened to these values. I should for sake of clarity name the kinds of things I consider fundamental values. I suppose, in their simplest form they would look like this: keeping your word, being loyal, practicing kindness and temperance in our interactions and finally honouring and acknowledging others as fellow sojourners with similar needs, desires and wants. Did we simply misplace these things? Perhaps they fell between the couch cushion with that spare change or somehow got lost in the Bermuda triangle of the dryer? All joking aside, it is difficult to find examples of these fundamental values in praxis in our social and political spheres. Why is that I ask?
We seem to be a culture driven by instrumental values. We do this particular behaviour to get this desired result and not necessarily because it is simply the right thing to do. Often times we simply don't do what is the good thing to do but rather the thing that is good for us to get what we think we want, deserve and desire. There is also little doubt that our current economic and social structures reward and entrench self serving and sometimes Machiavellian behaviours. It is extremely difficult to get out the mindset of scarcity and the idea that more for you, means less for me. To be honest, I am not sure how to get around this persuasive thinking as it is deeply indoctrinated into all our practices, institutions and economics. It is a complicated problem to address and amend.
Maybe I am just being nostalgic? Perhaps, I have become too enamoured with the stories of everyday heroes who defy the odds to keep their word simply because they gave it and to not do so isn't acceptable? Are the days of a solid handshake being sufficient to seal a deal, a thing of the past? Can these values be found and once again reclaimed? OR is this simply a matter of emotional math and practicality?Are people simply opting to have individual benefits outweigh the burden of decisions, relationships and business dealings? Does keeping your word come at too high of a cost in our contemporary reality?