Moral Dilemmas ~ Government ~ Politicians ~ Voters

Greed over humanity has reached critical mass in many lands in our world. We need to shift and include integrity in our humanity.

The following is a post from January 2, 2013. Truths do not change. Here we are discussing the same points to the same political dilemmas seven years later.

Moral dilemmas occur in every facet of life. One of our life lessons is to balance our needs with the needs of everyone and everything else.

When do we take care of our self, our needs, our wants, our desires?

When do we go beyond ourselves to include taking care of others, others’ needs, others’ wants, others’ desires?

It is important that we take care of ourselves. Self preservation mandates we take care of ourself first in order to have the stamina to take care of others, such as putting on an oxygen mask on an airplane before putting on your children’s oxygen mask.

But what is the boundary that marks the saturation point of critical mass of care of the self to excessive selfish, only self serving agendas at the expense of harming others?

At what point do we shift into the numbing state of egocentric blindness that appears to fall on our personal and collective moral conscience?

At what point do we stop listening to others’ points of view on any subject, and only listen to our own selfish and hurtful opinions?

Are we getting paid to do a job?

Are we students?

Are we in administration?

Are we appointed to the job?

Did we get voted in to do a job?

Do we listen to the loudest voice screaming in our head?

What is it that grabs our attention, and is important to us?

Are we swayed by peer pressure, popular opinion, financial, political or social gain?

Is it important that we win at all costs, or that we do the right thing under our watch at this time?

Is it important to eliminate all others’ points of view, vision and agendas in order that our own is the only light that shines, at the tremendous expense of human, social and financial sacrifice, as long as we win locally, nationally and worldwide?

Are we aware that everything going on in every country is seen by every other country, that we no longer live in Neanderthal ignorance, behind high walls, void of technology, science and education?

Are we truly living our conscience, our moral conviction in the face of all truths, not just the “truths” we want to see?

Do we make decisions based on integrity and honor for the good of all people, or based on personal, social, financial or political gain?

Does someone else, or something else own your soul, your voice, your mind?

Recognize that it is not socialism or any other kind of “ism,” to play your part in the betterment of humankind. Name calling another’s point of view is a deflection technique, rather than dealing with the issue at hand.

It is possible to sabotage all other attempts at the remedy if it is not our idea, our agenda, our platform. It is possible to sink an agenda, and a country, and the world if we choose not to be responsible.

It is time to get out of the sandbox.

It is not possible to build something up at the same moment you are tearing it down.

What is needed at this point in time is to do the job in a cooperative effort, making just decisions in the face of threats by bullies of every kind.

We teach our children to stand up to bullies, but it seems when it comes to healing us grownups, we adults have the backbone of a grape.

We teach our children to stand up to bullies, but it appears that political blackmail is tolerable to the paid-off politician.

We need to mature, abandon peer pressure, and do the job we are paid for, volunteered to do, or are appointed to do.

We need to be strong, courageous and valiant in the face of difficult and unpopular opinions of our time in every situation.

Courage is doing the right thing in the face of fear-based threats, in order to help humanity and our country.

It takes courage to act with integrity and honesty to stand up against friend and foe alike, in order to do the right thing for all of the people under our political or private watch, without tipping the scale of justice towards selfish greed and political and personal gain.

It takes integrity not to turn a democracy into an authoritarian dictatorship.

Now is the time for our leaders to be leaders.

Our decisions need to be balanced, or they will topple. The more out of balance the decision, the harder and faster they topple.

Now is the time for our leaders all over this world to build up, not tear down.

Now is the time to let the breath of education, science, wisdom, light, and healing to sweep through our lands, like a refreshing rain renews what was once barren, fallen, deprieved, and destitute.

Financial Fasting

Financial gluttony, over-spending, living beyond our means, and maxing out our credit

If we do not see the financial problems we or others have, we can be like an ostrich with their head in the sand. Is there any financial problem if we choose not to see it?

cards/personal loans/business loans, sound familiar?

The answer is financial fasting. Over-spending happens to some of us personally, to some of us in business, to some of us in politics, and to some of us in the military on a global level.

The remedy does not always lie in cutting out a person’s salary, cutting employee benefits, eliminating customer service, or outsourcing labor. We need to keep human integrity.

People are worth more than things. If you ever have so much to do that you do not know what to do first, the priority is, people before things.

We cut corners where we can. We substitute lesser brand products for name brand products, spread things out a little bit to make it go farther. Most of us have been here at one time or another.

Still, many of us keep on the merry-go-round of over spending, because there are valid needs, bills need to be paid, and food and shelter are high priorities. The difficulty comes when the lines blur between needs and wants. We’ve been “good” for so long that we want to “reward” ourselves with a night out to eat, or to a movie or anything else that is our placebo for responsible financial restriction amnesia.

We can have addictions to over spending, which is difficult, because, like addictions to food, we still need to eat. We still need to handle money responsibility.

A healthy answer would be to include “financial fasting.” Moratoriums, financial caps on our own spending, personally, within the family, companies, and government spending across the globe. What would happen if we did not spend what we did not have? What would our lives look like if we paid cash for everything and stopped the credit cards and loans? We are killing ourselves, literally, as our bodies and minds wear out from the friction of daily stresses, trying to make ends meet, or at least come close to meeting.

These questions can be an eye opener for us, if we find ourselves squirming. Are we addicted to our lifestyle? Do we feel like we have choices? Many of us have lost so much in these times, from homes to businesses.

Some of us have not lost anything at all, as a matter of fact, some of us have made great strides, financially with ethical practices; while others of us have made huge profits on the backs of over-worked employees, or are part of the millionaires club with no dose of reality for the ramification of political decisions, business decisions, or any other kind of decisions we make, as if our lives don’t really touch those of others because we are so insulated.

Whether it is ourselves who are overspending, or our bosses who are taking unfair advantage of us by dangling our jobs from their tight-fisted grips, or any other group who is using financial manipulation as a means to their ends, we can be like ostriches sticking their heads in the sand. Is it true, if we do not see something, then it is not happening?

While it is true what we focus on grows, it is also true that what we do not focus on does not get addressed.

We need to shed light on our realities. With a clear mind, no matter how extreme things may have gotten, the key is our plan. If that plan fails, make a new plan. We need to simplify, donate what we do not need or use, downsize our homes, minimize our bills, and practice financial fasting. However, like all fasts, they cannot go on forever, so make a long range plan, and keep adjusting along the way.

God Bless