The Absolute

-You are wrong!

Daniel and I disagree.

He is a tall white man, slightly overweight with thinning grey hair. He is wearing a suit with a white shirt and a black tie drowning in a sweat stain on his chest. As any good lawyer he is strongly defending his case, and I delightedly disagree.

-You are wrong, and you know it.

I’m not, but I always indulge people that disagree with me. One should never be too sure of himself, the risk being to miss an opportunity to learn something. I was standing very close to him. I could see in his eyes that he really believed in what he was saying, I found this promising.

-Wrong? There is no such thing as right or wrong Daniel; you should already know that by now.

-Yes I believe there is. We built our entire social system and family values around this fact. Without rights and wrongs, the whole system would fall into chaos. This is what keeps human kind together.

Although I was looking down on him because he was sitting, he still had these daring and very confident eyes. He knew he was making a valid point here. Throughout human history, the virtues of good morals were the bricks used to erect the massive institutions that will later guide citizens to the path of enlightenment and happiness. Following that trend the Church pushed a strong Manichean definition of morals. Plato even expatiated about the values of virtue itself, while schools and other education systems used it to create a common ground on which social interactions would nurture the feeling of mutual understanding.

I heard that argument countless of time; however it could never satisfy me. Beside the fact that it considers our social models as the only viable solutions, it also blatantly ignores its own foundation.

-What makes it a fact? Who decides what is wrong and what is not? Is it god, is it you? Is it me? How can I follow rules that cannot be legitimate by anyone? I believe it is obvious to you that I am not a religious man. If morals are decided by god, and I don’t believe in him, why would I abide by rules created by something or someone that I do not acknowledge the existence?

As I said so, I looked at my watch. I was late and I should have been gone already. But that conversation with Daniel was poking my interest, he might be able to change my mind. Although we had just met, I found him to be an extremely daunting and articulate man. So I decided to sit at the table with him. He simply watched me sit and just like his positions, he didn’t budge. Then he slowly replied.

-Would you be religious then god would have been your guide on the matter. Since you are not, then common sense should be. Don’t try to make this a theological paradox. It is common sense that molesting a child is bad whether you believe in god or not. It is also common sense that stealing or fighting with each other will breed anger and frustration, consequently cracking the foundations of any social community. We all seek to thrive in our lives and that is what morals bring us.

Daniel was doing what every sensible man would do in his shoes. He was defending the very foundation of what made him who he was today. Just Like a kid defending his mother’s teachings. Our mothers are usually the most accountable individuals in our lives. They would over care about us, give us tremendous tools to go through life untainted, while breeding loving values in our hearts. However until they reach teenage hood, most kids wouldn’t question the validity of the widely accepted rules and values that their family bring upon them. This is exactly what is going on with Daniel right now. He is just defending is values without ever questioning them, would I be right, it would most likely mean the end of his world.

-Daniel, do you think pedophilia is a good thing? Or maybe murder?

He breathed loudly, looked at me and smiled. My question seemed to prove his point.

-Common sense dictates those are not good things. You are proving my point here.

-Yet in the middle ages, young girls would have to marry and literally be rapt by mature men. In the meantime knights were praised by the count of people they murdered no matter their gender or age. All these were considered as good behaviors by their contemporary society.

-We were wrong then. And we evolved from that.

-This is actually my point Daniel. According to the society or the era the same behaviors can be wrong or right. What is the validity of any social system which is based upon unreliable values? What proofs have you that what is wrong today won’t be good tomorrow?

I was staring hard at him. I was hoping that he would have an answer that would convince me otherwise. I could see him becoming uncomfortable. He was twitching on his chair. He couldn’t find an answer. That could only mean the end of the argument.

- Daniel, there are simply no rights and wrongs. There is only what you feel comfortable with. You can only build upon absolute and unshakable foundations. And you see, in this world there are only two absolute certainties. Life and death, and no matter which time or society you live in, they never change.

I looked again at my watch, I was definitely late for my other job, and my boss will not like it. I was really hoping that Daniel could come up with a counter argument. I wished he could prove me that all the social layers we use to suffocate the heritage of survival of the fittest, were actually meaningful to this world.

I stood up. I looked in his eyes one last time hoping for a last minute answer. He didn’t move nor said anything, maybe because he didn’t care anymore or maybe because of the ropes.

He couldn’t find an answer so I pulled the trigger.

Author: C.J COCO-VILOIN