We need a moral centre as individuals,but we also need a moral centre as a society. A shared moral framework is what brings us together as a community,helps us agree on rules and standards of behaviour,and gives us a sense of safety. (And if you want to know what a society without a moral framework would look like,put a bunch of toddlers together in a room with no supervision and see the mayhem that ensues.)
We’re all responsible for maintaining the moral centre of our community,but we look to our leaders and high-profile people to set the standards. We all need strong moral examples to ground us,to comfort us,to make us feel like there is order in the chaos. This is why shows likeSuccession are so deeply discomforting;there is no goodness,no moral centre,each person is as corrupt and self-serving as the next.
On the flip side,we elevate those people in our society who seem to uphold the standards to which we aspire. We elevate war heroes likeBen Roberts-Smith,who demonstrate the courage and loyalty we hold in such high regard. We elevate personalities likeRolf Harris,who make us laugh and keep us entertained. We elevate athletes likeJarryd Hayne,who show such discipline and sportsmanship. We need them as heroes. We turn to them as the embodiment of all the values we hold dear.
And then they fall.
It feels like every other day,another one of our most prominent citizens is shown to be fraudulent,or just fatally flawed. An Australian icon turns out to be a Wizard of Oz. There’s no moral centre. There’s no embodiment of goodness. There’s just smoke and mirrors and our collective need for a hero to admire.
And it’s not just the individuals;our institutions,too,are failing us. The PwC scandal is just one example of an organisation putting its own needs above the needs of the people it serves. We want to trust our institutions,we want to believe they represent our moral centre but,one by one,they let us down.
So what are we to do? Who can we turn to when we can’t look to our leaders? Who can we admire when our high-profile individuals and institutions are so bitterly disappointing?
Well,we can turn to each other. We can turn to ourselves.