Reactivating our moral compass

It is funny how suddenly a theme will assert itself into ones consciousness. Years, eight years in fact, life has gone along with the day-to-day focus on survival, and then in the span of a few weeks a new theme inserts itself, wedging a spot between acquisition and self-promotion.

The first was a conversation, now moot, between two women, one in her 50s supporting Hillary, the other in her 30s supporting Obama. The question was experience, and the younger woman’s parting comment, “well at least he has a moral compass to guide him”.

The second was less civil. It was a quote in the Hartford Courant from our police chief, “We have lost our moral compass”, when an elderly man, returning from a late afternoon trip to the grocery store, was left injured on the street, a hit and run victim. Neither motorists nor pedestrians offered any assistance.

The third was last weekend having dinner with my father, a world war 2 hero, a man who has spent his life working for the greater good. We were discussing the war in Iraq. “Of course it was just for the oil, we needed it”, he stated. Excuse me. This time the words went off in my head. When did it become ok to invade a country because we covet their natural resources?

Perhaps eight years of inertia really are enough to drain the battery in our moral compass, without which we are truly lost.