Article January 4, 1975 Issue

How Do We View Moral Standards?

RICHARD A. MATHER

"If it feels good, do it!" The slogan in the car window ahead was hard to miss. I didn't agree with it, but I knew that the brightly lettered philosophy echoed the approach of many people.

There's a widespread feeling that moral rules and standards traditionally taught in our society are no longer valid. Young people, especially, seem to feel that these represent the hypocrisy of an order generation, a double standard more honored in the breach than in the observance. It is pointed out by many younger people that their elders are preaching concepts of behavior they themselves do not follow, and they cite statistical evidence of the emotional and spiritual price paid by those who can neither live up to the standards set for them nor find in themselves the courage to break away.

What these young people want to know is whether the struggle is worth it. Many of them have concluded that it is not, that it is unhealthy to become willing or unwilling pawns on the chessboard of society, where the rules squeeze all the meaning out of life. Their solution is to do away with the concept of moral universals. They feel that everyone should be allowed to determine what is right and wrong for himself, without others' interference or judgment.

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