How Bad is Bad Enough?

(Presented November 9, 1997)

© 1997, Hank Peirce

I live in East Somerville, an ethnically diverse section

of a working class town bordered by Cambridge and Charlestown.

In Somerville there is a wonderful sense of excitement

at the positive changes going on in the city.

Last week we elected the first African-American alderman

There is tremendous economic growth in all parts of the city,

and Davis Sq. was recently voted one of the 15 hippest places

in the country by the Utne reader./

Yet at the same time there is a feeling of anxiety among many who have spent generations living there, who feel that something is wrong.

They see their values and way of life threatened

by the refugees of the Cambridge Rent control wars.

As well as by the large number of Haitian and Latin Americans

who have moved to Somerville and who are changing the political, social, and even religious landscape of the city.

Adding to the anxiety, the sentiment that bad things are going on

have been a number of events that have

recently taken place in close proximity to where I live.

Events that have influenced our state politics,

made many us question our legal system, our society’s moral character

and human nature. /

I live less than a mile from where young Michael Curly

lived and where he was abducted from.

And whose death produced discussions,

not on stopping child abuse,

but discussions on the death penalty.

Where the rhetoric of each side has been well defined over the decades./

I’m also just down the street from The Cambridge court house

where the Louise Woodward case has lead to daily protest of her

guilty verdict. /

The media attention has only added to our growing sense

of uncertainty of our legal system and insecurity society.

A few blocks from there is a photo lab where a year a half ago

a woman went to have some pictures developed.

Maybe you remember this story it was in all the news.

The photos that she had brought in were for an art class,

she didn’t inform the lab of what they were or what they were for,

most of us wouldn’t do that either.

So when the technician began to develop the film

they found pictures of a naked young boy and a naked adult male.

Since the technician did not know who took the pictures,

or what the relation between the people in the pictures,

and since the technician felt that the photos were pushing

the bounds of decency they informed their boss.

Now the owner of the lab is of course both legally and morally bound

to report photos involving minors like this to the police.

Well the police got involved and confronted the woman when she came to pick up here pictures./

From what I understand of the story the police over-reacted

and instead of asking questions about the photos

threatened her with child abuse charges.

The woman over-reacted throwing a lamp at one of the employees

of the lab, and kicking a hole in the wall.

And the press defiantly over-reacted painting the episode

as either an example of censorship (that was the liberal slant)

or the episode was depicted as a company saying no

to the pornography of the world,

(that was the conservative slant.)

It’s interesting that the two women who own the photo lab

have always supported liberal, anti-censorship causes,

but now they were now getting hate mail from people whom they had assumed were of a similar opinion as themselves.

At the same time,

they were getting letters of support from very conservative people,

who held views contrary to their own.

It finally all blew over

though the photo lab’s image was tarnished for a while.

The woman was not charged with child abuse, but was jailed for non-payment of damages that she caused at the lab.

And the whole issue was quickly dropped by the press once the next

scandalous event came to light what ever that was.

Now I bring this up as an example of the complexity of our lives

and the complexity of issues and situations that life brings us into,

and from which we must try to construct some goodness and sense./

What is it that triggers in our consciousness

what makes us recognize the bad,

the wrong, the evil, and where does that come from?

Is it something inherent in our nature that makes us recognize it?

Or must we be taught what is wrong and what is right?

I used to believe that it was only through instruction we gained

knowledge of morals and values.

Perhaps I only learned the language of our culture’s morals through instruction.

Maybe I am, maybe all of us are born hardwired

with the ability to tell right from wrong.

Or possibly this ability is neither the result of nature or nurture,

perhaps it is bestowed upon us from some universal source.

What ever the manner was in which we receive

our knowledge of right and wrong.

Each of us apply it in different ways.

Some tend to act according to the situation

and others are apply rules it the same way regardless of the circumstance.

As UU’s we tend to shy away from othrodoxies,

and see ethics and morals as an individual choice

dependent upon the circumstances of a given situation.

Which is a fine thing to believe/

but problems arise because our ethical standards,

the ability to recognize right from wrong,

are not calibrated interpersonally.

So what I may see as being fine you may be shocked at,

no wait I’m the minister today.

What you might think of as fine, I may be shocked at.

If we apply this understanding to the situation at the photo lab

the actions of those involved become more difficult to judge.

In that story no one person was morally wrong,

perhaps their actions or reactions were clouded,

but they were expressing themselves

from a deep rooted sense of moral authenticity.

So if you were the technician what would trigger in your mind,

your conciseness that something was wrong.

Would it have been an immediate recognition,

perhaps a memory of a teaching from your childhood

or past experience with children in abusive situations.

How would you act if in your work you discovered questionable photos

or if you found out that someone at your company was stealing,

or that your income was dependent on work done by children in sweatshops in Asia.

Would you be swayed by arguments from others you work with?

What if the reactions of your friends and co-workers

were negative ones.

What if they said that you were being a nit-picker

would they tell you that this is just how business works,

and if you started speaking out on one thing,

you would have to speak out on a hundred injustices

that we are all responsible for.

Would you speak out, would you still recognize this event as harmful.

Where would the holy, the divine enter into your decision making.

Now imagine that you were the woman who was getting her film developed, and was suddenly charged with child abuse.

I would think that a wrongful charge would make you recognize the injustice of the situation.

How would you feel if you were accused of something horrendous,

theft, harassment, Abuse.

Would you react out of anger of an injustice of this accusation.

Would you speak out, (I bet a lot of you would)

you would speak to your friends, and supporters,

and today you might even go to the press.

How far would you be willing to go in order to clear your name

and your conscience? /

Maybe you wouldn’t speak out at all

maybe the stigma of this accusation would be so great that you would remain silent, hushed by embarrassment, or maybe guilt.

Would your conception of the divine change

if you were accused of a crime.

Would you curse and lament your God, would you loose faith?

or would you believe that the Universe would eventually correct itself.

Would you believe as Theodore Parker did

"That the..... is long but bends toward justice".

What if you were not directly involved in this situation.

What if you just heard about it on the news

what about it would make you angry and upset?

And if you got upset what would you do?

Would you call someone? a friend, a politician

would you go and protest./

I know we all have read the poem that states:

They came for the Jews,

and then they came for me

It is a powerful poem, but most of us are not dealing with Nazis.

What would cause you to speak out?

Was it the renewed call for the death penalty,

was it the verdict in the Woodward case.

Maybe you have never felt so moved to speak out?

What would motivate you?

would it be something personal and internal,

or would it be choice you make because that is the thinking of those around you whose opinion matters to you.

Would it be because you were threatened,

maybe you would you be motivated because of teachings

you received as a child.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, the golden rule

loving your neighbor as yourself./

When we look at the different positions it becomes much more difficult for us to say what is right and what is wrong.

We can probably say that this action was bad judgment,

or that was bad taste.

But we must be big enough to realize that what motivates people

in most cases is not a desire to do bad.

There are of course people who may be mentally unstable who do bad things, but most people are not like that.

Most of you are not like that (I hope)

The ability to recognize evil/ to be able to say that this is wrong or right

will only get us so far in life.

the other component that we need is the ability to forgive.

Because we all need to be forgiven,

now I’m not making a statement that we are all sinners.

That because of Adam’s fall we are all born into sin,

we need to be forgiven because we all make choices and some of those choices are wrong.

What do they say Adam and Eve may be guilty of making

a wrong choice but they did not put the snake in the garden./

The choices we make are a reflection of who we are and what we believe.

And sometimes we’re imperfect, and we need to be forgiven./

We need to do that,

> We need to be able to lift ourselves up beyond how we normally live.

> For we are not called in this life just to be satisfactory,

to be just who we want to be

we are called to be the best that we can.

Have you ever done wrong and later rationalized your actions?

I have.

Have you treated others badly so that you could be popular?

I have.

Have you ever abused your power and position to get what you want?

I have.

Have you ever wished that someone had never been born?

I have.

We all have,

because we all struggle with that side of ourselves that wants nothing more than to survive with the least amount of effort.

While at the same time we want the world to be fair place,

a place of justice, equity and compassion

and we want to be treated fairly./

But the human condition,

is not that we must learn to subdue our animal instincts,

with laws and rules.

It is that we must live in this tension/

following our hearts, listening to that small still voice within

influenced by the words and deeds of prophetic women and men.

> And whether we are hearing a call from God,

or recognizing the balance in nature.

> Whether we are following the teachings of scripture,

or the teachings of our parents.

We must say yes to life, we must not give in to our insecurities.

> We must recognize that we will make wrong choices in life,

and others will make wrong choices as well.

Choices that will be painful,

and that will happen again and again,

We must be willing to forgive others, be forgiven by others

and forgive ourselves.

We can not fully live our lives under the heaviness of condemnation,

of guilt and shame. /

A UU family whose son had been killed in a random shooting

and they were asked if the hated the murder of their son.

They said No, they forgave the shooter because

they could not carry around the weight, that Hate/

would make them carry.

May none of us ever have to make a choice like that,

but may we all learn to be as merciful to others, and to ourselves.

We must learn to recognize our short comings

and live by that golden rule, and love our neighbors as ourselves.

So let us raise our heads

and see the hilltop shawled in morning rays of light

sent from the planet that leads us straight on every road.

Let us celebrate that journey that we are on,

for that journey is life itself.

How bad is bad enough? I can’t tell

for it will change from situation to situation.

Let us not forget that to err is human, but to forgive divine.

Hymn: # 6 Just as Long as I Have Breath

Closing Words:

Help the weak ones that cry for help,

help the prosecuted and the victim,

they are the ones that fight and fall

in our conquest of the joy of freedom.

In this struggle of life/ you will find more love

and you will be loved. - Nicola Sacco