Well Pogue,

How you doing?

Me? I’m disappointed yet not surprised. Why? Well I stand witness to so much that goes on in life that just leaves me shaking my head and the question I find myself with at the moment is; “Have they no code?”

You know what I mean by a code?

Well in case you’re wondering, a code, in this circumstance, is a set of principles or rules by which people choose to live. Indeed, going further, in my mind is the rules people adopt and take to themselves, freely, as a way of living. Then they adhere to the code and, I would want to say, live a better, more principled life. Warriors often have talked about “a code” by which they choose to live both singularly and in relationship to those they live with. Religious orders have a code. People of character and principle are recognised by their code. It’s a defining way of life. And, disagree if you want, but I think we are better for it and society is better for it.

But we live in an age where so few seem to have a code and, as such, live lives devoid of principle, responsibility and character. The spirit of the age seems to be if I’m finished with something, bored, tired of it, then I abandon it. All is disposable and can be replaced. So, the going gets tough and people give up. This in turn means they never have to go through a tough and challenging time if they choose and so never build the strength of character that the experience would bring. They never mature or grow and we are fast heading towards a world populated by oversized children.

Harsh? Maybe, but Im tired of being faced by situation where I’m seeing people who are filled with a sense of entitlement. The belief that they have a right to things but do not see the need to have earned that right.

Am I wrong?

I know people who, having not worked most of their lives want benefits and housing and all the trappings that make life comfortable. And they expect the system to provide. Or others who chose to live abroad because the tax system is more beneficial but return to the UK for medical treatment because its mostly free and abroad they’d have to pay. Code or no code?

I was speaking with a policeman the other day. We were socialising together and that person told me how the police here have to undergo additional training on how to deal with the public because of how the world has changed. That they are faced by a generation that seems set in the belief of their “rights” regardless of their behaviour.

Ring true?

So I’m looking for those who are the “bigger” person. Who have a sense of responsibility and accountability. Who realise that the world is larger than they are and that our actions have consequences. Adults, maybe, but they seem to be a declining breed. I really don’t want to be amongst grown up children who have no context to understand what I’m saying when I talk about responsibility or indeed, a “code”. I’d rather just not have those conversations. I don’t mind being seen as outdated, out of touch, politically incorrect or aloof. There are values that have run through society since time began and people having a “code” is one of them. Some things are just right and people shouldn’t have to be told. We come preprogrammed with a conscience if we would but listen to it.

It’s the people with a “code”, the principled people who make the difference in the world. Well the good difference. The Martin Luther King’s, the Nelson Mandela’s, the Ghandi’s. Strangely enough, their lives are marked by sacrifice and discipline, qualities that seem so foreign to many today.

Yours, reviewing a code,

Wic