If we are wise, values do change

The Wednesday letter “Changing values lower standards” is one that many of us will sympathize with, but it throws the net too wide. I cannot see how helping infertile couples to conceive can be a bad thing, how allowing people in a destructive marriage to dissolve it can be anything but good, or why we should prevent same-sex couples who wish to commit to loving, faithful, life-long marriages from doing so can be anything but a benefit to them and to society in general.

The writer fails to make an important distinction, which is the difference between legislation that allows people to avoid responsibility and laws that encourage them to do so.

Things change. We perceive new needs, we discover abuses that need correction. This is why we eventually outlawed slavery, enfranchised women, and outlawed exploiting child labor. We may sometimes stumble as we go forward — democracy can be messy! — but looking too much back to “the way it was” can also enshrine suffering and preserve injustice.

We grow, we learn, and if we are wise, we do change. Changing values do not always lower standards, and it is a mistake to legislate inertia.

Nathaniel R. Brown
Edmonds