Corruption is, at first, a small thing. It may even have a hint of conscience, until it becomes habitual and infectious to everyone around it. Goodness also begins small, becomes habitual, and infectious as well. Except goodness is honorable in the human person, and corruption is degrading. So, how do we come to our true value as people?
Our human nature can corrupt itself, since we are created with free will and the ability to choose. Corruption is what happens when we let something we’re doing that we are not proud of get out of hand, until we are consistently putting ourselves and our desires above all else.
Of course, corruption happens in politics since it is made up of people with ambitions who have found that they can ignore goodness if it interferes with their political goals. However, it is nonetheless degrading, and its infection can spread until the taking of a human life in the womb, the mistaken confusion of choosing one’s gender, or the misrepresentation of what marriage truthfully is, becomes commonplace. But all that, and more, demeans us as human beings created by God. And yet, we can choose to do any of it. We can choose to do it ‘our way’ rather than considering “God’s way.”
Choice is a word thrown around a lot, without looking at the responsibilities that flow from the God-given gift of free will that we have. Responsibility is not a ‘happy’ thing to bring up to someone in the throws of corruption, selfishness, and a lack of goodness. When we are acting in this way, we do not want to look at ourselves in a truthful light, and so, many of us try to make the wrongs we do seem right. And there are plenty of other people, especially in politics, who do this, too, by covering over truth with lies for their own gain and political victories. These so-called leaders are selfishly fostering corruption on a much larger, and detrimental, level.
This is why the truthful family, based upon the sacrament of marriage, is being negatively affected. This is why the deep responsibility to guide children who come from that marriage is being overlooked. This is why it is imperative to look upward to God for guidance, rather than looking around at the temporary world we live in. Except, goodness isn’t easy, has never been easy, and will never be easy.
So, can we actually do the things that are hard, the things that are truthfully good, and not take the easy way out with wrong behaviors that decay not only ourselves, but also, our world? The truth is that without delving into the spiritual side of our human nature, we cannot.
Being human, each of us has the capability of committing great wrongs. When we listen to false voices and swallow their false precepts, we can easily fall into corruption rather than goodness. This can bring us troubles we don’t want for ourselves, our family, our country — especially when those voices and precepts offer us a path to self-indulgence.
But, with courage and faith, we can also do the opposite. We can commit ourselves to the responsibility we have as human beings who actually share in the divinity of God. By looking inward and upward, even those in politics can understand that only God reveals our true value as people, and that it is He who gives us the strength to change what troubles us in our lives, setting us on a path to goodness. Because whether we admit it or not, each of us comes from God, and in the end, will be judged by Him.
Translating a World on the Edge 