My word is always good. A recent event made me think about my commitment to my word. A friend had the bad luck of someone backing – accidentally – into her car. The culprit got out immediately and pleaded with her not to notify his boss, for fear of giving his superiors a reason to fire him…in order to clear the bottom line in these tough times. She said she would agree upon a monetary compensation (both for keeping her mouth shut and refraining from reporting him, and the damages incurred.) The moment she got her money in hand, she said “if there are any additional expenses, I will have my lawyer contact you.”

Then we solicited a number of plumbers to come work on our house plumbing. Many promised to give an estimate and show up for paid work. Not one came through. This was before Hurricane Irene.

One’s  word is often no longer good. It disturbed me even to hear it. I have always believed that a developed civilization rested on a handshake and a verbal agreement, but that is an incredibly incongruous and misled conclusion. These days, our “developed civilization” is plagued by attorneys and frivolous class-action lawsuits that is all about the money, not the principle…while claiming otherwise. In the meantime, indigenous tribes within the canopies of jungles can still nod on an agreement, and more often than not, do right by their word.

It’s something that makes me toss and turn in my sleep. I have always had a deep feeling that each of us exists in our generation to improve upon the generation that came before us. There is no reason to continue status quo. I saw a program about how the painter Jacques-Louis David believed in the idea of greatness, something that appears to be anachronistic in these days of irony and skepticism. I think we have forgotten that we can be great, or strive to be great. We can still be heroes. That song has barely faded and remains the same.

I recently did volunteer work for kids at my mom’s church, a vacation bible school. It was two weeks of set painting, preparing food, decorating, playing with kids, photography, photoshop, powerpoint presentations, sweeping, mopping, cleaning, etc. I just got a call from a church member a few days before.  I’ve never met her before, and I only attend church on Christmas Eve. I said “I’ll be there.” That’s it. After a month, the happy reports from her Reverend and fellow congregation are still coming in about what I did. (Overinflated, in my opinion) But my mom was astonished. I was astonished that she was astonished. She always assumed I was the biggest slacker in town. Though not religious, I understood the tough times small churches are going through. I wanted to do my best for kids who may not have the luxury of going on a vacation. I adored each and every one of them, and I enjoyed giving the local church – who helps our community through tough times – a hand. It definitely wasn’t greatness by any measure, but it was an attempt. And even if you fail at being great, I think you still manage to come off fairly good.

There is a fear in me that countries who have been reared on the practical aspects of  communists-aching-for-recent-capitalist-flash Darwinists’ “survival of the fittest” will overly influence nations that once believed in a simple handshake and a verbal agreement. I worry that pretty soon, everyone will be thinking “what is in it for me?” That’s not civilization to me. That’s just raw survival.

Eventually we may have to tear ourselves away from all the electronics, whirring appliances, flashing devices, and modern conveniences and trod deep into the jungle where people in loin clothes squat over an open fire….to learn the lesson of civilization.