Submitted by antarchi on July 17, 2007 - 00:54.
So how do we teach the next generations to behave?
What about...
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Set yourselves high standards: do not intentionally deceive, harm, undermine or otherwise disadvantage others. Explore the likely consequences of your actions before embarking on them, weigh up the likely good and harm that may be caused by anything you do and never undertake actions which violate, directly or indirectly, the basic human rights of others.
Look around you constantly for behaviour which violates these principles - in particular the last. Be ready to withdraw your support from such behaviour, to express publicly your disapproval and to lend your positive support to any actions meant to put an end to violations.
Try to take small steps towards a world where instances of deception, harm, or undermining and disadvantaging others are made less likely and more difficult to bring about.
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... as a bare minimum. But it would be kind to the next generation – and more honest as well – if we added a few notes of caution to this list.
So here we go ...
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Expect to find a world where there are far too many instances of deception, harm, intentional undermining and disadvantaging of others for you to be able to be aware of them all, let alone to take a stand on all. Do your best to allocate your time and energies between these issues, while still retaining enough optimism and sanity to have the drive to carry on.
Be aware that you will meet small and large instances of corruption and deception around every corner, and that mostly the rest of the world will not stop in its tracks to be shocked, let alone to address them. Be aware that unless you too are prepared not to stop in your tracks, you are likely to be left behind by the steaming engine of world progress.
Proclaim the noble principles above with passion and with eloquence, by all means: you will be generally revered if you do so. But do not expect to take them seriously or follow them to the letter. In fact, it is probably advisable, for your own security and sanity, to follow the crowd, rather than the principles.
If in doubt: compromise. You are certain to have to do so if you want to get anywhere in the world, at least in a worldly sense. Be ready to turn a blind eye to injustice, to tolerate deception, to venerate the wealthy and the powerful, and to court those in positions of power or influence. They are likely to return the favour - and you may need those favours.
Above all: never doubt or undermine the unwritten rules that keep the system going and the engine of world progress steaming forward. Hold the written rules up to inspection, one by one; doubt them a little and even undermine them, mostly with your tongue in cheek. But do not try to halt the engine of progress; do not seek to undermine the institutions that the engine put in place; do not wonder if the place might be a better one without the institutions; and do not even entertain the thought that the unwritten rules were unwritten according to the wrong unwritten principles.
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