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Off The Rail - Feb 21, 2005 - Printable Version
- A Simple Matter of Conscience
by Mike Bohling
Most of the decisions we make in life are a matter conscience. Sometimes the ramifications of our choices have an adverse effect on the people around us, and sometimes they remain unseen for many years. We can learn from our mistakes, try to make things right, and make better decisions in the future, but we forever carry the weight of our transgressions in our conscience. The matters of conscience that I speak of do not seem to exist beyond the personal level. Individually, few of us would make the choice to deliberately imperil the lives of future generations. It is the decisions that are collectively made by our leaders that put the future in danger. The choices made by this administration, by administrations past, and by leaders all over the world are all a step removed from being a “matter of conscience”.
It is a fundamental flaw of human nature that we can seemingly exonerate ourselves of responsibility for decisions made on our behalf. All personal accountability is checked at the door. Unfortunately, it won’t work out that way. The sad fact is that in the years to come, each and every one of our grandchildren will hold us culpable for our actions.
An example of this is the federal deficit. When we tell future generations that they get to pick up the tab for our present spending habits, how do we reconcile that choice with our conscience? The answer is simple, we don’t. Since you didn’t personally bankrupt the future, why should you be held personally responsible for it, right?
The same question is asked regarding the environment. I know that I am only borrowing the air that I breathe, the water I drink, and the world that I walk upon. These things do not belong to me. They belong to those that follow me. That is why I don’t litter and I don’t pour used motor oil into the gutter, so why should I be held liable for the fouled air, the polluted water, and the toxic landscape that the future will inherit?
As much as we like to believe it, when decisions are made that make the world less livable for generations to come, we are not absolved of responsibility. It may pacify your conscience to say, “Hey, I didn’t vote for the administration that gutted the Clean Air Act and refused to participate in Kyoto”, but in the eyes of your great, great, grandchildren you will still be guilty for allowing it to happen on your watch. Whether we like it or not, the future will hold you and I responsible, and rightly so.
I know that this sounds like a defeatist attitude, but what can be done to stop powerful industries from corrupting our leaders, waging wars, polluting our planet, and devouring it’s resources? Exposing their crimes and the politicians that they own doesn’t seem to do any good. I watch the news, and I read the newspapers every day, and every day new scandals appear. Nothing changes, no penalties are incurred, no sentence is handed down, and no regret exists. Even if accountability was demanded, how do you punish someone for ravaging the future? Make them give the money back? You can’t un-pollute groundwater, you can’t un-extinct a species, and you can’t un-increase the global temperature. What punishment could possibly compensate for the crime?
Individually we may choose to fight against the wars, we may choose to do our part in protecting the environment, and we may even choose to take responsibility for our actions. Collectively we have to make these very same choices, but above all, we must be willing to put the burden of our collective mistakes where it belongs, on our own personal conscience, because collectively we don’t have one. This is where we have failed. We don’t have the luxury of placing blame for the world’s problems on “them”, because in the eyes of the future, you and I are “them”. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, isn’t it?
I have the suspicion that when we are all dead and gone, and our grandchildren’s grandchildren are carrying our debt, breathing fouled air, drinking polluted water and walking upon a toxic landscape, what they do on top of our graves won’t ever be mistaken for gratitude. That will be our punishment.
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