15Moral values as they are seen today

1. Moral values as they are seen today

Of course no one is perfect in this world and, as it is axiomatic that each generation is worse than the last.

Unfortunately today we can observe changes of the moral values. Moral standards of honesty, purity, love for others disappeared. Instead of them we face individualism, greed, lust, hypocrisy, me first philosophy, sexual freedom. And as the result of these changes in the way of thinking and behaving we come across breakdowns in the family, drug and alcohol abuse, increasing violence and civil disorder. Essential parts of our society nowadays are money, sex, drugs, crime, religion and politics. We have created a society which can produce torture and murder of children, rape and child abuse, violence in the family. Taken together they form a swelling tide of anger, bewilderment and despair.

I don’t want to say that this decline in moral values takes place only in the modern society. No doubts that these problems have existed before, but nowadays they took a very dangerous rise. And it’s hard to say what the reasons of it are. It was growing step by step. It was sexual revolution in 1960s and the creating of the contraceptive pill; it was greed is good culture of the 1980s and the victory of the individualism over collectivism worldwide by the end of the decade; it was increasing violence and sex on TV; alarming increase in violent crimes, rape and child abuse; then came “me first” philosophy which justifies all actions in terms of self-interest, rather than the common good. The great issue of our time is the tension between freedom and constraints, rights and duties. The old authorities – parents, school, church, government – have declined in influence. No one else, it is held, has the right to decide by which values I run my life. The danger with that approach, of course, is that I tend to judge myself by my ideas and others by their behaviour. Everyone blame others. It’s necessary to change “me first” philosophy and put other people’s needs at the 1^st place just to make the world better and do not blame each other. But the simple way out from this situation is to start with ourselves. If each person began with what they could do, where they are, to put things right and to set new standards, then we might soon see a difference.

If people are guided by certain moral values they improve the society for the better. Everybody knows the Biblical principle: “Be kind with people if you want them be kind with you”. When you help others you improve yourselves.