The "Gray Area!"

I listened to an interesting seminar the other day where the speaker was involved in a discussion with a tenured professor at an Ivy League college. Much to my surprise the professor had announce that the majority of the problems facing our country are the result of business practices that are not only taught but edified in Ivy League business courses. The speaker had to be as taken back as I was, but he recovered and inquired of his guest, "Well what are we to do about this?" The professor was caught in a situation where he allowed his emotions to speak the truth and realized he'd announced something that wouldn't be especially popular with his fellow instructors, replied, "That my friend is a discussion for another day."


There are two powerful forms of indoctrination available to those who wish to counter the moral fiber and integrity of our great nation. The school system and the media. They are both major input forms into our personal computer, the one that processes the difference between right and wrong. It's imperative we closely guard what we allow to enter our main frame. I'm afraid we mindlessly permit ourselves to be exposed to suggestions that cloud the defined line between right and wrong.

Isn't it interesting how we have been introduced to the muddled place called the "gray area?" What we knew to be correct and proper is sometimes presented with exceptions that test our moral fiber. For instance the Bible says, "Thou shalt not kill." That's pretty cut and dried! There are not if, ands, or buts about that statement, yet we find "exceptions."

Once a behavior is excused by society for one, it becomes a standard for the rest of us. After all isn't justice supposed to be applied equally? If little Jimmy is allowed to stay up past his bedtime, doesn't little Suzie have a case to lobby for the same treatment? What we lose in this discussion is the fact that a bedtime was set, and to allow for it to be ignored is wrong. Like Mom always said, "if your friends jumped off a cliff, would you follow?"

Our standards are defined by principles. Those principles should be written in stone, not sand. Those of us who are Christian have a ten lined edict that specifically outlines that code of morality. It's backed up with the seven deadly sins as reinforcement. Just like the Federalist Papers support the writings in the Constitution. Avoid being in the "gray areas," nothing that stands the test of time is ever discovered there!

God Bless!
Capt. Bill