When Morality Leads Us

In recent news, morality in this world has reared its head. Unfortunately, it has been done as a zero sum game. More morality for you means less morality for me. Or, the colloquial phrase uttered by Jay-Z, “what you eat don’t make me shhh!” Blogs and social media posts are being written with the aim of making distinctive and discerning steps between right and wrong landing spots, and good and bad behavior. Morality is rampant and is becoming more of a cool thing to see advocated. In fact, it has gotten to a point of no return.

When They See Us was a great Netflix series to remind people how to not overlook others who are not in the same position that we are in. Grown-ish is a new cool tv show that broaches topics that are affecting teens, and subsequently their families, in our society today.  Right after Grown-ish is the tv show Everything’s Gonna Be Okay that highlights the aftermath of a family that lost their father and is now left in the hands of the oldest child, Nicholas, who is navigating life as a gay man raising two sisters. I mention these shows because they tend to face little to no morality policing.

Why? I’m not sure, but I hope it’s because everybody is ready to admit that we’re all moral people hoping that others morals tend to agree with ours.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere! This quote from MLK needs to be remembered, revisited, and reapplied to our moral problem. You see, sometimes folks like to state that what one family does with their child or children has absolutely nothing to do with another family’s well-being etc. The nerve of some folks, huh? This is hilarious to me because this society has taken a few folks to task under this same auspice. Does anyone remember Rachel Dolezal? Once it was revealed that she was in fact a white lady, no longer was she allowed to call herself a black woman nor could she continue to lead the NAACP. Out the window went the moral grandstanding that’s highly inconsistent. Another example would be the boy who felt like a woman and decided to run track. Immediate outrage spewed forth in media outlets because this athlete kept winning everything. “That’s not fair!” “That’s still a boy winning all those races.” 

This same confusion on one side and a cry for acceptance and mind-your-business on the other side has availed itself over the Dwayne Wade and Gabrielle Union decision to call Zion by her preferred name, Zaya. The calls by some LGBTQ community spokespeople center around parents being free to love and raise their children how they see fit. But as a society we are highly inconsistent in our insistence for morality. How do I know? Kaitlyn Jenner has suffered ridicule on several layers and yet supported somewhat by her new community.

As a Christian, I am confused by a society that wants moral standards which include respecting human beings and showing human decency, while not wanting standards. Where are these standards coming from? Which set of moral standards are we as a society to follow?

Anarchy is bound to happen. If what’s good for you is good for you, and I’m not allowed to have a say in it, then anarchy happens. This isn’t a far-fetched reality. I’ve worked two different jobs with teenager habilitation companies. Within this facility, there are three groups: gang members, drug addicts, and the molested-molester units. I’d be willing to bet everything that I own that no one wants to allow any of these units to continue living how they see fit without a call for change! Nor would anyone decide to let racist teens or teens with murderous ways/personalities continue in their ways without demanding they follow a different set of moral standards. Different means better and less destructive.

Indeed Americans want flourishing, and often push for legal help to see something equivalent to an ideal come to pass. But what was and what has been legal has not always pushed for the flourishing of everyone. Morality hasn’t meant much since the early 1600s.