Duty Calls

I remember reading once that a cultural difference between earlier generations --  the Builders and the Boomers --and those who have come after is the loss of the concept of duty, the notion that there is an inherent moral obligation to do what is right rather than what one wants. From relationship.  For example, I had a duty towards my parents.  It did not derive from what they did or did not do for me, although that was significant.  Nor did it arise from my desire to have my own children feel dutiful to me.  The obligation arose strictly out of relationship, because they were my parents they deserved the respect and care.  When I received my I-A draft classification in 1967, I recognized a duty to my own country.  I did not flee to Canada or opt for incarceration.  I signed up, though I reserved the right to decide the path that service would follow and joined the Coast Guard.  It was my duty to serve.

Duty exists regardless of the motivation for serving it.  So, for example, I may be faithful to my wife because fidelity was inculturated in me.  I may refrain from straying because it is in the best interest of the marriage and family.  I may abstain from wandering because I fear the social and financial consequences of divorce.  I may be true to my wife because I am in a sacred sacramental relationship. But none of these things creates the duty; they only motivate me to acknowledge it.

As Christians, we also have a duty to our fellow Christians and those beyond church boundaries.  The duty arises from baptism, which makes each of us a member of a new family with a number of new brothers and sisters, and confirmation, in which we were mustered and commissioned to a mature effectuation of that family relationship, and also to help build the Kingdom of God beyond church walls.  That means loving neighbour as oneself  -- helping to create a society in which the will of God is done on earth as in heaven.  I see it as a duty growing out of deep gratitude for the many blessings we enjoy, growing out of relationship with the Divine.  We so act because it is the right thing to do, and not to garner a reward.  And, after all, Christ's kind of life -- life lived for others -- is the only life truly worth living.