In a blogpost entitled Sondra, I discussed appreciation for my high school guidance counselor, as I stated the following:
Sondra appeared to genuinely care about my well-being. On a number of occasions, she expressed concern with my afterschool activities. For instance, she wasn’t shy about questioning why I carried a beeper.
Back then, the occurrence of teenagers with communication devices wasn’t commonplace. An adolescent with a beeper was likely involved in some sort of criminal activity, which I was.
For those people who remain unfamiliar with beepers, one source states:
A pager, also known as a beeper or bleeper, is a wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays alphanumeric or voice messages. One-way pagers can only receive messages, while response pagers and two-way pagers can also acknowledge, reply to, and originate messages using an internal transmitter.
In high school, I carried various models of Motorola 1-way and 2-way beepers, used to facilitate various undertakings – to include criminal activities. In adulthood, no longer participating in criminal behavior, the last model I carried was a Motorola Talkabout T900.
From the early days of adolescence in 1989, I recall rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot’s song “Beepers.” I envisioned how cool it would’ve been having a status symbol to which mostly adults were privy and something very few of my peers maintained. On the track, Sir Mix-a-Lot stated:
Pagers, call ‘em what you want
Some brothers wear fake ones, still tryin’ to flaunt
Walkin’ in a party, lookin’ like Joker
Big ole six inch garage door opener
Not me, ‘cause my bank is set
Although I couldn’t afford the telecommunication device in junior high school, I managed to purchase the status symbol in high school. My guidance counselor, Sondra, wasn’t hesitant about questioning my moral and ethical foundation regarding this choice.
Whereas morals relate to principles of right and wrong in behavior, ethics are moral principles of conduct governing an individual or a group. Thus, morals determine what is considered good, bad, right, or wrong, and ethics are moral rules by which people pledge to live.
The (alleged) facilitation of transfer for stolen items, weapons, and illicit substances in adolescence was a bad moral activity and defied expected ethical behavior of a teenager. Sondra wasn’t shy about trying to help me understand this using a logical and reasonable (rational) perspective.
Due in large part to Sondra’s support, I abandoned criminal activity in the mid-90s and chose to pursue the path of law enforcement when enlisting in the United States (U.S.) Marine Corps. After all, I wanted to be a person with at least minimum moral integrity.
In other words, at minimum I wanted to comply with the law. As such, I placed personal ethics above the law. Yet, these two spheres intersected. The moral minimum which influenced my ethics was to obey the law, though not to necessary go above and beyond that point.
For instance, killing is generally understood to be a morally bad act. However, as a U.S. Marine and military police (MP) patrolman, I was trained and prepared to kill according to specific guidelines.
Morally, I considered it a good act to kill for self-defense and in defense of others. Likewise, I pledged to conduct myself in an ethical manner when adhering to the use of force continuum (i.e., escalate and deescalate force as necessary).
If the military legal standard was that I could employ the use of deadly force only when under the cover of law as an MP, my ethics were placed above the law if I was off duty and not aboard a military installation when in fear of imminent danger from another individual.
Morals, ethics, principles, and laws aren’t as black-and-white or clear-cut as one may wish they were. Therefore, I used a minimum moral integrity standard after setting aside criminal ways of my youth.
Personally, social critic Noam Chomsky’s definition of minimum moral integrity is preferable to other explanations of this concept. In an interview, Chomsky described his perspective by stating, “Minimum moral integrity requires that if we think something is wrong when they do it, it’s wrong when we do it.”
The rational concept Chomsky outlined may be illustrated using the following syllogism:
Form (modus ponens) –
If p, then q; p; therefore, q.
Example –
If it’s morally wrong to kill noncombatants, then U.S. funding of those who kill in such a manner is a bad ethical practice.
It’s morally wrong to kill noncombatants.
Therefore, U.S. funding of those who kill in such a manner is a bad ethical practice.
Depending on one’s moral and ethical beliefs, Chomsky’s perspective is a rational approach to the beeper bombing reportedly carried out by Israel against Lebanon and Syria. According to one source:
At least 26 people including two children were killed and thousands more injured, many seriously, after communication devices, some used by the armed group Hezbollah, dramatically exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday [9/17/2024] and Wednesday [9/18/2024].
In the latest round of blasts, exploding walkie-talkies killed 14 and injured at least 450 people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
The explosions occurred in the vicinity of a large crowd that had gathered for the funerals of four victims of Tuesday’s blasts.
Were all of the people killed or injured in the blasts affiliated with Hezbollah? Even the children? Or could it be possible that the exploding beepers and walkie-talkies represented indiscriminant and internationally illegal standards related to homicide?
Suppose (forbid) that Hezbollah retaliates using the same level of atrocity. Would the U.S.-backed Israel government concede minimal moral integrity? As a Texas man once boldly stated, “I doubt it!”
Better yet, would U.S. politicians who extract wealth from U.S. citizens in an involuntary manner (taxation) and send these funds to those who are allegedly responsible for the deadly attack rise to the standard of minimum moral integrity? As a Florida man one humorously stated, “Hell to the naw, to the naw, naw, naw!”
In the words of Chomsky, “Minimum moral integrity requires that if we think something is wrong when they do it, it’s wrong when we do it.” If the killing of unarmed and arguably noncombatant people is wrong if Hezbollah does it, it’s wrong when the U.S. funds it.
Additionally, Israel reportedly issued an airstrike on an Iranian consulate in Syria on April 1, 2024. Aside from serving as an MP, I was a Marine Security Guard and protected U.S. embassies and consulates. Have diplomatic standards changed since I last served in the Corps?
Since when is it moral, ethical, or legal to attack a foreign nation’s consulate? According to one source:
An embassy or consulate is not considered the territory of the mission country. This is a common misconception. Instead, embassies and consulates are located on foreign soil and remain under the host country’s sovereignty. However, they enjoy certain protections, privileges, and immunities under international law, as established by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) for embassies and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (1963) for consulates.
Imagine (forbid) that Iran or Syria conducted an airstrike on an Israel or U.S. consulate. How might U.S. officials respond? Again, “Minimum moral integrity requires that if we think something is wrong when they do it, it’s wrong when we do it,” and vice versa.
Use of rational thinking from my high school guidance counselor helped me to alter my behavior in a morally and ethically superior manner. Perhaps Israeli and U.S. officials need a Sondra-type figure in their lives. After all, at minimum, moral integrity could save lives – let alone one’s reputation.
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At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply helping you to feel better, I want to help you get better!
Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW
Photo credit (edited), fair use
References:
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Chehayeb, K. and Aji, A. (2024, April 2). Israeli strike on Iran’s consulate in Syria killed 2 generals and 5 other officers, Iran says. Associated Press. Retrieved from https://apnews.com/article/israel-syria-airstrike-iranian-embassy-edca34c52d38c8bc57281e4ebf33b240
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