Means or Ends?

Means or ends?

I remember considering the questions: Do the ends justify the means OR Do the means justify the ends?

I am nearly 70 years old and when I was about 14 years old in 1963 I wrote an essay about that question. As I recall I was in favor of “thje means justify the ends” as the American ideal and opposite of our enemies “ideals”. I assumed that our ends were good and possible and it was important we got to the good with good deeds and good beliefs. The alternative was to not ever get to some good if the means were bad and bloodied and muddied the way.

I continue to believe what we do should be good and right and moral and ethical and then the results, the ends, will be good and right and moral and ethical AND AMERICAN.

The other way was the way of extremists of any sort. There were the “godless communists” and today there are the “godfull religionists” of any religion. The defining characteristic of the godless and the godfull is their need to have EVERYONE believe the same thing in the same way – OR ELSE.

When we accept that “the means justify the ends” we have to be patient and tolerant and accepting that the “ends” may be different for different groups and what is really right and important are the gentle, loving, and kind means Not only do the means justify the ends – the means are the ends!

Ends are ends. Ends are deaths.

Means are ways of living and are life.

Today the President and the government of the United States is using children as hostages, breaking up families, and looking the away from torture and abuse. We ignore the truth of climate change and accept (do we really believe?) lies, exaggerations, brutish speech, greed, corruption, and on and on and on.

We are asked to Make America Great again. I ask – at what cost? By what means? How can breaking agreements, starting trade wars, polluting the air with coal, and so on and so on result in good ends. We are killing the planet while we feel and think we are healthy and strong yet we are committing suicide.

Our National Anthem says we are brave. Or, at least we live in “the home of the brave”. Let us live up to the ideals of our home and our heritage and bravery. We are Americans and we help people. We want to and try to do what is right and good and moral and ethical. We tell the truth. We believe in a G-d of truth. We want our leaders to be full of the truth and the goodness which comes from doing what is right.

The MEANS are goodness and truth and love. Lets Live Our National Dream.