We Can All Agree...

As I have been looking at the news lately, I quickly realized the painful reality of societal division that we can fall into if we are not careful.

The sex scandals to come forth from Hollywood and the political arena may at first glance create more conflict, arguments, and clashing points of view in people. However, the deeper the revelatory rabbit hole goes the more we can realize how much in common we really have in terms of our shared values and general sense of morality and how we have to hold ourselves and our elected officials to the same standard of basic goodness.

Everyone I have ever spoken to has agreed with me that sexual misconduct is wrong, regardless of whatever their political, religious, or other points of view may be. There can be grey areas about whether or not misconduct took place, but the more we know and understand the context of each case, the more these ambiguities are cleared up.

The issue now seems to be in determining whether an offense actually took place in the case of a certain individual and what consequences (if any) need to happen for justice to be carried out.

This is where ever-greater transparency is important for the public, especially when it comes to elected officials. Since the media can carry biases as well, it is incumbent upon each of us to perform our due diligence in gathering the relevant information about each person.

The waters are not muddied because we don't know what inappropriate behavior is; the ambiguities lie in dealing with incomplete information which may also be privy to sociopolitical manipulations.

Knowledge truly is power. As citizens we have a responsibility to demand the release of information that relates to the crimes and inappropriate behaviors of our elected officials. This chart shows the amount of US taxpayers' dollars paid in settlements over the past 20 years.

This type of document can be very frustrating since it provides only vague generalities on a yearly basis without naming names or divulging the nature of the transgressions. Like Hollywood, this gives us a sense that the political institutions have a vested interest in keeping specific information from the public in order to maintain the status quo of the organization.

We see certain politicians from both sides of the aisle swamped in allegations, and it is up to us to discern the truth in each case and act accordingly. We have to be very weary of any tendencies towards double standards in ourselves, the media, and society at large.

This is where I advocate for us to tap into a common, shared sense of morality that is innate to all human beings, prior to affiliation with different political parties or other beliefs. We have to employ a lot of courage at this time, because there is so much painful and disturbing information coming to light.

And yet, we also can't allow ourselves to fall into a "witch hunt" type of mentality. (Which witch did which?) Being able to cross-reference different news sources and follow up on each case can help us obtain the clearest and widest possible perspective and also to connect dots that may reveal themselves in what initially can seem like isolated incidents.

The basic moral compass we all have is balanced with a desire to get to the truth of things, no matter how uncomfortable or disturbing the findings may initially be. By holding everyone, including ourselves, to the same basic standard of conduct we can begin to set the bar higher for creating a better world socially and politically, one step at a time.

The world is a tumultuous place at the moment. For anyone interested in a free counseling session, please visit www.seedsoflove.ca and mention this article. Thank you for your contribution to pursuing truth in a world of deception.