Scott Kamps
A worldview divide in our nation is growing every year, day by day.
It isn’t just a matter of diverse opinions, but a difference of understanding our world – as different as light from darkness, good from evil and right from wrong.
Is it possible to walk with moral clarity in the current moral chaos of American society? Knowing history – and reading old books from those eras – can give us a broader perspective and encourage us.
While dominant cultures can produce deformed consciences in society, we are not purely products of our culture/society. We can reject the society’s moral framework and restore justice when our culture goes astray.
It’s happened before.
One stark example for us would be the Civil War and the persistent racism that followed it. Mark Twain (1835-1910) wrote many novels and short stories in the aftermath of the Civil War. He had a complicated relationship with Christianity, critiquing some of the church’s teaching on morality in his day through his writings. The theme of the oversimplification of morality comes up often in his works, along with the inconsistencies of typical southern Sunday school morality of his day.
Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn (next column) can teach much about the importance of moral growth – and they’re enjoyable reading!
In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom is a typical mischievous boy who only cares about himself – he struggles to sit through church, paying more attention to pincher bugs than the sermon. He drops his girlfriend Amy like a hot potato the minute he meets Becky Thatcher.
Sneaking back to Aunt Polly’s from Jackson Island, he finds out his family is heartbroken, thinking he’s dead.
He doesn’t say anything to alleviate their sorrow; instead, he makes plans to attend his own funeral and enjoy the fame that comes along with it!
In short, Tom cares about Tom; giving no thought to others.
But, he eventually comes around to do what is right for the benefit of others and testifies to free Muff Potter from being wrongly executed.
He figures no angel or fairy would intervene for Potter – see also Twain’s The Story of the Bad Little Boy – and Tom recognized he was responsible for justice in society.
Tom Sawyer begins as a boy who feels doing the right thing means doing the thing you don’t want to do. Through adversity he grows into a person who desires to do the right thing – not out of guilt or fear of punishment.
These universal lessons apply today as well. We are responsible for justice – including equal protection for all persons.
The most important thing about our moral growth is we learn to love what’s right; not just do it begrudgingly.
Scott Kamps writes a bi-weekly column for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, thestableguy@frontier.com.