Where is our Decency?

I don’t understand what has happened. I am filled with questions. Where is our decency?

Is it not a virtue to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and shelter the homeless? Is that not what religions of all kinds tell us?

I don’t understand. Where is our decency?

Is it not our obligation to stand between the oppressor and the oppressed? To reach out to those in search of freedom and liberty? Is that not what Emma Lazarus wrote on the Statue of Liberty?

When did the bully, the violator, the abuser, the liar become our hero? Why would anyone side with such people? Our most sacred texts tell us to fight for justice, oppose evil, and do the right thing.  

Where is our decency?

Healing the sick is the most basic of good causes. Do the ill deserve care? Should one’s physical wellbeing be determined by income and corporate profit? Does not every sick child, mother, father, neighbor deserve healing?

Love thy neighbor as thyself is a clear commandment. It is a value that all traditions share. Hate thy neighbor, fear thy neighbor, or hurt thy neighbor is antithetical to our noblest and most cherished values.

Opening our homes to those who have had to leave theirs was once seen as an act of godliness. Whatever you have done, one sacred text reads, for your brothers, you have done for god. The reverse is also true, according to that good book. Who closes the door on the needy and wretched?  Is it righteous to turn your back on the downtrodden and desperate?

I don’t understand.

Is fear a value? Is anger a virtue? Do we let those parts of ourselves direct our course? What happens to us, as individuals, families, and communities, when these become our driving motivations?

Who have we become if the sins of greed, lust, pride, and wrath are applauded, lauded, and admired? When did those become the goals to which we aspire? Who are we if those are our most powerful traits? Where is our humility? Where is our generosity? Where are our gratitude and goodwill?

Good people can do bad things. All it takes for the “isms” to win is for otherwise good people to rationalize them away. Racism is okay if it brings jobs. Sexism is okay if we don’t like the specific person. Are our standards that thin? Are we people who are willing to betray our values for petty gain? Why place the Ten Commandments in public places if you don’t live them in your life?

How we comport ourselves in times of crisis and challenge defines us. If we only hold our most sacred morals when times are good and things are easy, what does that say about us? 

Is this what we want for our children? Do we want them to live that way? What example do we set? How do we want them to see us?

I hear the words that Joseph Welch said to Senator Joe McCarthy, “ Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”

I am not sure I want to hear the answer.