The Deterioration of Morals
A Brief Soliloquy
Introduction
This is something I’ve been thinking quite a lot about lately.
People no longer set boundaries for themselves anymore, or standards to which they wish to uphold themselves. They no longer have morals.
Personally, I like to think of myself of someone with clearly-defined boundaries and two sets of morals: the first is a set that are relatively inflexible, these consist of basic morals which most people hold, while others are more specific to myself; the second set are flexible morals, things I haven’t yet set my mind on and probably never will, they are always open to new ideas and change.
The Deterioration of Morals
This lacking of morals may be inflated to me because of my age, and that people my age are more inclined to party, and take part in everything that entails. Some of the things that take part during these endeavours I would call immoral. But this is all fine, and frankly I think it’s justified to a degree: it’s the culture of young adults.
I have sympathy for these people, because many things about yourself are uncontrollable without first being aware (the most difficult part). You are taught to be a certain way by the way your parents raised you. I am not a parent, but I think 99% of young adult’s choices can be boiled down to how much their parents loved/cared for them.
However, regardless of the circumstances that make up someone’s mental complexion, I find this blatant lack of morals disgusting. People’s actions are all about fulfilling pleasure, no matter the consequence. It’s funny because these are often the people who complain about the consequences the most, when there are often clear solutions. I am not preaching perfection, but I am preaching basic morals and a semi-strict enforcement of them, such as having self-respect (this encompasses not having casual sex, doing drugs, making a fool of yourself), being truthful with oneself, being aware of your actions, etc. It all revolves around self-respect and behaving in a somewhat respected manner. Breaking your morals is inevitable, almost a necessity I would add. There will be times when you regret a decision that goes against your morals. But this is necessary for strengthening those morals when you see and feel the effects of the outcome.
Conclusion
Again, I’m not preaching perfection here. Things happen. But I am preaching to use your morals to guide you in becoming a better person. Sometimes it may feel lonely on this path, of morals, when you see almost no one else thinking the same as you. But that can almost be thought of as a test of your morals. As Emerson said:
It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
I honestly believe reading more would solve some of these problems as I don’t believe it’s a problem of intelligence, it’s a problem of lacking self-reflection.
Maybe this is the way it has always been, and the intellectuals of each age are the only ones who harbour some type of clarity. One thing has remained true though: there will always be sheep to shepherd.
This is the first article by my own publication: Hypersaturation. I will be posting either really long articles, (because I know no other publication would publish it), or really short and not-as developed. Follow the publication to join the ride.
If you liked this article and want to read more click here and follow me. I post articles about books, philosophy, and movies — everything and anything that I enjoy talking about.
