Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Moral Standards are at Stake

|

Moral Standards are at Stake

Morality is not something innate such as parental loves or emotional acts. When you feel hungry you eat something or you just love your friends emotionally – they are not called moral acts. If you feel sympathy and help a criminal escape from the law or police, you have done an immoral act. Morality originates in your reason and conscience. You follow the reasonable orders of your wisdom, which is not colored by your sensation, it is called morality. But it should be noted that if you help someone as a reaction to his support or expecting something in favor, it is not called a moral act. Rather morality is a selfless act that you do for others without any expectations – which draws people’s praise.
Morality is of a big value in individual and social life. “Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and more steadily we reflect on them,” wrote Immanuel Kant, “the starry heavens above and the moral law within.” These days, the moral law within is being viewed with increasing awe, if not always admiration. The human moral sense turns out to be an organ of considerable complexity, with quirks that reflect its evolutionary history and its neurobiological foundations.
However, it is believed that moral values are in moribund in modern world despite the technological and scientific advancement. For instance, whenever I imagine the smell of a human’s burnt limbs in the bedlam of a suicide bombing, the painful sobs of the wounded, the bloody bodies of street vendors, the children’s sliced throats, the victims of rape, the mothers who seek their kids tearfully among the bodies of war victims, my senses go numb. Hence, the decline in moral standards is undeniable.
The ongoing violence and bloodshed in many parts of the world signify lack of respect of human and humanity. There are hardly any people who listen to the call of their conscience. When the inherent rights and dignity of men, women, or children are not valued, moral standards are eroding.
I have observed that in one part of our country, a number of people mourn the death of their near and dear ones, whom lost their lives in suicide bombing or terrorist attack, whereas a number of others celebrate a ceremony without a tinge of moral values. That is to say, one will hardly feel the pain of their brothers or sisters.
In fact, we have forgotten the fact that a human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive.
Honesty is one of the components of moral character which develops good attributes including truthfulness, kindness, discipline, integrity, etc. It involves the absence of lying, cheating others, theft, and lack of other bad habits which hurt people. Honesty is really of being trustworthy, loyal, and sincere throughout the life. Honesty is very valuable and good habit of much importance. There is a well said proverb by the Benjamin Franklin that “honesty is the best policy”. Another quote by Thomas Jefferson is that “honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom”. Both are truly said by great people in the past however will be truth in the future forever.
When one closes their eyes to the challenges and problems of their neighbors or does not feel the anguish of a saddened individual, this is called lack of morality in human societies. On the other hand, if your conscience is shaken by a picture of a person who was killed without guilt, no matter who or where, and if your feelings are numbed by the pain of your fellows, you are called a person of morality.
It is simply said that “you reap what you sow”. If you do not sympathize your afflicted neighbors, they will, too, leave you alone with your troubles. Humanity and moral values are global principles and respected everywhere in the world. Even those who do not cherish a certain faith or belief, morality will be still their inherent quality. Hence, morality can be exercise with or without religious beliefs. The issue to be regretted is that morality in modern is at stake and people hardly cherish this value.

Hujjatullah Zia is the permanent writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at zia_hujjat@yahoo.com

Go Top