What then, gentle reader, represents a core principle that we can all come together under, regardless of our chosen flag, that our collective history continues to remain sensible and useful to our species?
Irony of ironies, the flag we all can comfortably rest beneath is the flag that has no flag at all. The justice for all is that it is, "just us." At our core, we do not know what is the right thing to do in any abstract, specific circumstance, not even for ourselves. We have our commandments, we have our rules; yet, in the heat of any particular moment, the good of any outcome, at times, seems to become the enemy of the best the more we cling to our man-made models of reality. At best, even our most cut and dried, tried and true principles of human behavior are no more than guidelines.
Now guidelines are important tools to have inculcated in one's character, but only if those guidelines are accompanied with a thorough, rational understanding of how and why they work. Education for all in the area of ethics and principles would be an essential part of promoting respect between persons.
Respect authority, but always question it. When it refuses to answer our questions respectfully, it ceases to represent any authority whatsoever. Authority that can not tolerate inspection and review does not, in the end, support viable respect between persons.
Some believe that the positive valuation of life in any form is a principle, rather than a guideline. It is always a good guideline to positively value life in any form. But the devil of this guideline as a principle lies in its details which can, and do, vary from specific circumstance to specific circumstance. Does this mean we can not absolutely value life in any form? Of course it does. No one wants to see one's fellows thrown into starvation and homelessness to save a future for the Horned Toad or the Spotted Owl. Does this mean that we can not absolutely value human life in any form? True 'dat. I'm thinking here of John William King's murder of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Texas and how I might have responded had I come upon the incident as a law enforcement officer and first responder. But does any of this mean that we can not positively value each other and choose to respect each other's right to our own individual paths toward truth, provided that we do not interfere with, deride, or discount these other paths? Absolutely. Our respect for each other, in fact, must be absolute.
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