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By Francisco Zepeda Trujillo
We frequently hear that there are no values. It was different before! Before, some say, you gave your place to a pregnant woman, teachers and old people were respected, one could leave the car open and nobody would take anything, most marriages lasted the entire life, kids could go outside alone, policemen didn’t steal from you… the list is endless. We had values!
There is some reason in this way of facing ethical problems of our time, however, I think it is an incomplete approach that can only give partial responses. First of all, it is not useful to idealize the past and most times the past is false. For example, in the generation of our grandparents, marriages lasted for life. But that does not mean that families were necessarily in every case happier, that some marriages were negotiated on, that many “misters” did not have one or more ladies or that fidelity was always respected. This does not mean that the past is not valuable or that we cannot learn from those who preceded us. I simply think it is necessary to recognize that each era has had to deal with its own demons, and that when we fight our own, little help comes from shocking ourselves and blaming everything to the “loss of values”.
Values are related to those aspects of reality we consider attractive, desirable, deign of recognition, respected, protected. There are many types of values, biological such as health or life itself, human such as tenacity or family union, economic such as wellness or wealth, social such as prestige or love to the country, moral such as justice or respect and religious, such as freedom of cult. There is no doubt that in certain cases it can be said that today we are living a “crisis of moral values” in the family, in companies, in government institutions, because we perceive that certain attitudes or conduct forms that we consider tend to disappear. However, if we ask people about the value of family, love, respect or honesty, most will consider them valuable and important in life. There are those that think love, family or justice is not, but in general it is not the case. Then, why don’t we live the things we consider valuable?
An element to consider is that the experience and safeguard of moral values assumes the respect of certain ethical principles that are born in reality itself and that guarantee that values can be respected, protected and promoted. Sometimes they are formulated in a negative way: do not lie, do not disrespect, do not commit adultery; sometimes in a positive way: forgive offenses, be generous, etc. These principles state a line that we cannot cross without harming at the same time that thing we consider valuable.
Another additional element is to reflect that it is not enough to recognize values and try to live the principles. Most people don’t go through life trying to violate ethical norms, trying to harm others and us. Human beings frequently want to make things right, but in occasions we can’t. And we can’t simply because we have not developed the habit of doing the contrary, definitely because we are not virtuous, or because at times we are controlled by our vices. Many marriages valued family and knew that there were certain things that needed to be done and others that needed to be avoided to live a happy marriage, but failed because they never developed virtues such as patience, generosity, respect, forgiveness among others, needed to live those principles and safeguard that value.
The same happens with the rest of our lives. Values, principles and virtues are the three main pillars that sustain the ethical life, if one of the pillars is missing, the building of our moral life stumbles. In some cases values are not clearly perceived or the hierarchy of our values is altered; in others, we do not recognize clearly which are the ethical principles that must govern our actions. However, we are not facing a moral crisis mainly because we have left values on the side, because we have given up being virtuous. That is why it is important to remember the wise advice that said: “If we conquered a virtue each year, we soon would be perfect”.
Comments: zepedafrancisco@gmail.com
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