“And yet I fancy one would consider it far less disobedient than in this case, the man who, having a money-loving father, is ordered by him to steal or make away with money entrusted to him, but does not carry out the order. Or do you think that there are no fathers who give such orders to their children?
“Well, I know a father so
depraved that, having a son conspicuous for youthful beauty, he sold him into a
life of shame. If, now, that lad who was sold and sent into such a life by his
father had refused and would not go, should we say that he was disobedient or
that he was showing purity of character? Surely even to ask the question is
scarcely necessary.”
In the simplest of terms, it isn’t right just
because the father orders it, but the father should order it because it is
right. The authority of any person is relative to the presence of virtue, which
is itself the highest measure of human excellence.
A parent may command a child, and the obedience of
the child follows directly from the wisdom and the character of the parent, who
shares something that he possesses with the one who is still learning to
possess it.
What if the parent judges out of ignorance, or only
encourages vice? The child is still called to offer respect for the one who gave
him life, who raised him, and who provided for him, as is intended by Nature, but
he is not called to do what he knows to be wrong. He is actually doing his
parent a service, and expresses his piety all the more fully, if he objects
with humility and sincerity.
Even though we don’t speak of obedience as would
have been common only a few generations ago, I still notice how easily we go
along with so much that we are told, often completely without question.
I remember a fellow from Boy Scouts who, though cut
from a rough cloth, was still one of the kindest and most helpful people I had
met. As I got to know him better, however, I saw a more sinister aspect, one
that expressed itself first in petty theft, but soon grew into an involvement
in the family enterprise of stealing and stripping cars. His profound reverence
for his father, who was in prison most of the time, was the deciding factor in
the choices he made.
I also remember so many of my peers in college, from
far more refined backgrounds, insisting that they would go their own ways, and
yet following almost exactly in their parent’s footsteps by continuing the
tradition of worshiping money, and power, and reputation.
Was Luke Skywalker somehow obliged to join his
father in going over to the Dark Side? I would argue that he was a far better
and more loving son by being obedient to a good they could come to share
together.
Written in 3/2000
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