Conscience

What happens in the dead of night.

The images were stunning. The eyes could only track the misery from left to right, up and down. It was all too much. All there was to do was look. Watch. Images with a strong magnetic attraction. The inability to look away. Sticks in the mind forever.

Worst of all.

Not being able to make sense of the horror on the photographic loops broadcast on the screens. Stunning horror. Tears, screams. People running amok, smoke, murmurs and shouts. Gun shots. Looks of horrific fear.

As I looked around, the rest of the building was quiet. Desolate. Peaceful. Then a look back up at the screens sent a chilling feeling up and down my spine.

Why?

Barbaric.

Savage.

Happenings.

Why?

Sadly asking myself, do those atrocitic savages have a soul? When they feed on the lives of others? Do they even have a conscience?

Conscience is a dimension of human personhood.

Are the savages who are killing others even human?

Conscience is a dimension of human personhood that is very complex and central to that quality which makes humanity distinct from the rest of creation.(pc)

Then, I concluded, the barbarians, the savages are not human.

But. They are human. Humans terrorizing other humans.

Why?

Good.

Evil.

If we were to ask God, it would behoove of us to do good when we encounter His call. No matter how rudimentary. Many denominations exist that say humans have the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.

My mind wandered away from the screens and I dazed and gazed away.

As a human being, we are required to apply a general knowledge of good and evil to the concrete situations of life. It is our personal responsibility to use our freedom to achieve that which is too.

We are limited. We are limited persons. We are not born with all knowledge, and are capable of deluding ourselves because of our sins and selfishness.

We need assistance.

All of us.

We need assistance in forming our conscience. Of determining in each and every situation how to achieve the divine call to do good and to avoid evil.(pc)

According to God. Conscience is the final decision of his will in a specific situation. We need assistance. the assistance is possible because we do not begin every process from scratch. There are values. There are norms. They give us guidance and tell us how we ought to live.

What we learn from human knowledge and human experience is supplemented by the special wisdom of a community of faith. Centuries of authentic teachings exist for us to learn to live a life of good, of goodness.(pc)

A distinction has emerged between universal moral principles and the application of these principles. Social teaching of the principles require of us to teach one another how to treat one another.

Then, looking back at the screens,

Why?

What is happening on the other side of the world is not just happening there. The methods may be barbarically different. However. To point the finger there, would be to release responsibility here.

None of us can afford that. A life of such contempt, such disregard.

Most importantly.

We must remember on our worst days,

we have a chance to repent, do better, let go of resentment.

Resentment is the number one offender (lk)

And it destroys.

We must do better.

To teach ourselves.

Teach our children.

Children learn what they live.

If children live with criticism

They learn to condemn.

If children live with hostility,

They learn to fight.

If children live with ridicule,

They learn to be shy.

If children live with shame,

They learn to feel guilty.

If children live with encouragement,

They learn confidence.

If children live with tolerance,

They learn to be patient.

If children live with praise,

They learn to appreciate.

If children live with approval,

They learn to like themselves.

If children live with honesty,

They learn truth.

If children live with fairness,

They learn justice.

If children live with security,

They learn to have faith in themselves and others.

If children live with friendliness,

They learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

(DLN)

Why?

Does evil exist?

How do we delve deep within ourselves and reject the temptation to give up? While looking back up at the chaos in the screens I remember thinking how lucky I was for the peace and quiet.

Until a loud bang.

At the same moment, a loud bang of the detention center door occurred with a person chasing another person shouting…..caught me by surprise and I leapt up, heart pounding. And many people were now in the area, and the shouting grew louder and more chaotic.

I called for back up and the situation did not escalate to an unmanageable point. The person who was being chased was brought down and wrestled into a cell in order to collect himself.

The other members of the scene were speaking at high voices gripped with fear and uncertainty. The group was calmed and brought to a different room to discuss with a professional the nuances of their situation and why a particular member went

Out of control.

In the background, the scenes on the CCTV continued to play and replay and there was now a certain familiarity to the stories from far away and the story happening in this room. In the deep dark of night.

Why?

Who is responsible for our self possessed obsession when it may become out of control. We cannot tame it into a workable order that is both livable and deliverable. To and for others.

Taking personal possession of the values which we embrace is a practice that must be repeated. And knowing we falter is half the battle to the recovery and triumph of goodness over evil.

How do we get there though? To some level of peace?

One-sided victories will not prosper. They may prove a point. But what is the point? I shook my head in sadness.

Just then I glanced up at the chaos on the screen looping ever more into the oblivion of terror. Still unbelievable, the depth of evil.

I walked down to cell holding the out of control individual who was running away from something. Now calm. Weary. Sad. I knocked on the door, entered in, extended my hand and said,

It will be ok.