Duty - pt. 1

I read that word again, just recently. DUTY. As in, it is my (not the writers; mine) duty to do this or that. Since I rarely read the words of some would-be ruler's speech, the word is usually directed by somebody who's on - or who wants me to think he's on - my side of the aisle.

It is my duty to defend the constitution, to resist authority, to show up at some rally, to send an email to a politician, to give to the NRA, to...aw, fill in the blank. You know the drill.

Nobody ever explains how any of this became my duty. It just is, that's all, and all right-thinking people know it. I don't want to be perceived as not a right-thinking person, do I? Then I'll accept my duty. Won't I?

It's very curious how duty has become pretty much always, at least outside the military, the province of what other people are supposed to do. People, as I said, are always telling me what my duty is. They rarely seem to talk in terms of their own.

Yet I took no vow, uttered no fell oath to do...well, anything. I have not signed my life to anyone's cause, and so it seems to me that if I owe anything, it is only to myself. We speak of being individuals, but it seems as though not even the most selfishness-worshiping philosopher among us wants to come out and advocate such a thing. Of course there's a duty to things outside myself! Don't I know there's a war on?

Oaths, vows, used to mean something. As little as a hundred years ago no man who wished to regard himself as a gentleman would ever think of breaking a vow he had voluntarily taken; his life was worth less than his honor. As little as a hundred years ago, no man who wished to regard himself as a gentleman would ever take any oath lightly, because he could very well find himself needing to commit horrid acts of self-abnegation to fulfill his oath. At least, so I'm told: The historical novels are full of such men.

Have you noticed how nobody writes novels about such men set in modern times? Outside the military, that is, where at least the tradition is given a bit more than lip service - officers are at least supposed to pretend their vows mean something. But in real life we see grown men put their left hand on a holy book, raise their right hand, and take solemn vows all the time; they televise it. And we all know they're lying. The people who administer the oaths know they're lying, but they cynically administer the damned things anyway. I guess you can say anything you want about preserving and protecting a damned piece of paper, so help you God, and that can mean whatever you want it to mean because it's...well, it's just a damned piece of paper.

I don't really mind when those men do such things. I know they're lying scum; they know it, hell - everybody knows it. So it doesn't matter what they say or how solemnly they're swearing when they say it. But what does kinda get on my nerves is when those same men - women too, of course, but I'm simplifying for space and emphasis - then proceed to stride to a podium and proclaim, in sonorous and meaningful phrases, what my duty is. As if they gave that oath in my name, or something.

To Be Continued...