137th Edition
Higher Standards
What are the standards to which you hold yourself accountable? Have they been consistent throughout your life, or have you raised or lowered them? I thought of these questions after reading about the recent gambling-related arrests in the NBA. Wasn’t something like this inevitable after gambling became such a prominent part of professional sports? By promoting and encouraging gambling have we not lowered the bar of ethical standards? Does anyone care?
Moral and ethical decline rarely happens quickly, or from one dramatic event. It tends to happen gradually, almost imperceptibly, over a long period of time. Along the way we ignore minor ethical slippages, especially if they are done by people on our side. It’s always the other side’s behavior that is an existential threat to democracy. Then, suddenly, we become shocked by how far we have fallen. Somehow, we have to rise above all this finger pointing and hypocrisy and hold ourselves to a higher standard. Stop pointing out the speck in someone else’s eye when we have a plank in our own eye. Just as ethical and moral erosion is highly contagious, the opposite can be as well. Who has the courage to lead the reversal? Our country is waiting…
If we don’t possess a mindset of always challenging ourselves to raise our ethical and moral standards, then we allow the possibility, if not the eventuality, of gradual decay. That is how human nature tends to work. A person doesn’t get out of shape all at once, it happens after months or years of inactivity. Moral and ethical behavior works the same way.
What other areas have experienced moral and ethical decay? Politics, media, entertainment, and business would make the list. A more appropriate question might be in what areas hasn’t there been moral and ethical decay? Perhaps there really hasn’t been, but with the Internet and ubiquitous iPhones maybe we are just exposed to more disgusting behavior today than in the past.
So, what do we do about it? Rationalization comes into play a lot – At least I’m not as bad as the other guy. All that does is grease the slippery slope of ethical and moral decay. So, back to the question, what do we do about it? Here are a few ideas.
Perhaps we can start by eliminating gambling in professional sports. It’s a destructive cycle. Side bets with friends lead to fantasy sports leagues, which then leads to on-line gambling, and eventually players and coaches get arrested for allegedly fixing games. None of this should be surprising. Gambling is going to ruin professional sports.
Then maybe it would be helpful to take an old-school approach to how we spend our leisure time. Turn off, or tune out, all the talking heads from both sides. Listen to YouTube videos of the late Paul Harvey instead. I sure do miss him. It’s hard not to feel better about life after listening to one of his stories. If you’re a sports fan, you might also enjoy videos by Jerry Kramer, the Hall of Fame offensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers during the Lombardi era. Of course there are thousands of good books yet to be read, or neighbors to visit, or people in need of help. There are endless pathways to a reordered heart. One that isn’t angry or cynical, or apathetic. One that is grateful and at peace. One that is trusting and not fearful. Higher standards would come naturally to a person with a reordered heart. And it would be contagious.
I’ll close with one of my favorite Bible verses… Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8
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Michael Kayes
*These views are my personal opinions and are not the viewpoints of any company or organization.