Moral Boundaries

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Abstract

tion of people of color during the 1950s, it was hard for us to imagine any guarantee of success. Never-the-less we listened. Our counselors were public school teachers of color who had, in some cases, overcome tremendous obstacles to graduate from college. During those preteen years, I did not recognize the great wisdom that they were sharing with us.</p><h2 id="d09a">Lessons well learned</h2><p id="ccbf">Now that I am in the autumn of life, I have lived long enough to see the merits of their great wisdom. I have met individuals from all over the world who exhibited balance in their physical, mental and spiritual lives. I have also encountered some that have not. The most obvious imbalance that I have seen is the ubiquitous tendency today to isolate spirituality from intellectual prowess. It seems that we have arrived at a juncture in which rationalization attempts to justify any/every human behavior. Without the presence of spiritual sensitivity, one can rationalize and reason in support of the racial, social, and economic partitioning that has become so much a part of life in the United States. Our schools are reflective of this li

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ne of thinking in its insistence on the separation of church and state. Recent research suggests that this disregard for religious sensitivities is one reason for the rise of the homeschooling movement. The “right” vs “left” battle has resulted in an exponential increase in gun violence. Some legislators set forth elaborate arguments and reasons for not supporting common-sense gun laws while our nation’s children die in their classrooms — a place once thought to be a safe zone. Acknowledgement of a Divine Creator provides us with a just and equitable boundary. Piercing this boundary results in injustice and inequity. We in the United States need to adopt a middle path. Such an initiative would move the pendulum of social justice towards its center of swing. This was the message that my friends and I learned so many years ago at the YMCA. I recently came across a Moroccan proverb which says, “Instruction in youth is like engraving in stone.” Those simple lessons learned as children have propelled many men and women of the United States towards a “more perfect union — “ albeit,sometimes in the face of great struggle.</p></article></body>

Building a National Utopia

Approximately 100 years after its founding, several friends and I actively participated in our local YMCA program. Our “Y” was not a fancy new building with a swimming pool, gymnasium and ample parking; no, no. Ours was an old, three story building located in a major city’s minority neighborhood on one of its busiest major thoroughfares. On Saturday mornings my friends and I would walk about two miles to participate in their youth activities. At the start of each program we were always reminded of three important aspects of total human development: body, mind and spirit. We were taught if we could balance them in our lives success was guaranteed. Given the educational, social and economic depredation of people of color during the 1950s, it was hard for us to imagine any guarantee of success. Never-the-less we listened. Our counselors were public school teachers of color who had, in some cases, overcome tremendous obstacles to graduate from college. During those preteen years, I did not recognize the great wisdom that they were sharing with us.

Lessons well learned

Now that I am in the autumn of life, I have lived long enough to see the merits of their great wisdom. I have met individuals from all over the world who exhibited balance in their physical, mental and spiritual lives. I have also encountered some that have not. The most obvious imbalance that I have seen is the ubiquitous tendency today to isolate spirituality from intellectual prowess. It seems that we have arrived at a juncture in which rationalization attempts to justify any/every human behavior. Without the presence of spiritual sensitivity, one can rationalize and reason in support of the racial, social, and economic partitioning that has become so much a part of life in the United States. Our schools are reflective of this line of thinking in its insistence on the separation of church and state. Recent research suggests that this disregard for religious sensitivities is one reason for the rise of the homeschooling movement. The “right” vs “left” battle has resulted in an exponential increase in gun violence. Some legislators set forth elaborate arguments and reasons for not supporting common-sense gun laws while our nation’s children die in their classrooms — a place once thought to be a safe zone. Acknowledgement of a Divine Creator provides us with a just and equitable boundary. Piercing this boundary results in injustice and inequity. We in the United States need to adopt a middle path. Such an initiative would move the pendulum of social justice towards its center of swing. This was the message that my friends and I learned so many years ago at the YMCA. I recently came across a Moroccan proverb which says, “Instruction in youth is like engraving in stone.” Those simple lessons learned as children have propelled many men and women of the United States towards a “more perfect union — “ albeit,sometimes in the face of great struggle.