My child got into trouble the other day for using the bathroom stalls as a climbing gym. I had a moment of deja vu as I recalled climbing the stall walls of my own elementary school's restrooms. But that was besides the point. Climbing the stalls is not okay, but as I listened to the teacher's explanation as to why this was not acceptable behavior, I started to squirm.
"Do you know why we don't do that?" she said. "Because it's so, so very dangerous. You could get seriously injured."
Let me tell you, it took some serious self-control to not contradict her. I suppose a child could get seriously injured, but it's highly unlikely. It's even more unlikely because my child is an excellent climber. All my children are. We are climbers. But that has nothing to do with it.
Climbing on the bathroom stalls is unacceptable behavior not because its dangerous but because the bathroom isn't a playground. The stalls are there to preserve people's privacy, not to challenge climbers.
Without contradicting the teacher, I told my child this. And then I went home and had a think about it. This is my think.
The danger of an activity does not decide whether it is right or wrong. There are some things that are right but are very dangerous, and some safe activities are quite wrong. The rightness of an activity also isn't determined by the outcome, by punishments or rewards. We might be punished in our society for standing up for what is right, and we might be rewarded for what is wrong. Punishments and rewards are necessary to make people behave, but they don't decide what is right or wrong.
Rightness and wrongness corresponds to an object's intended function. If we are using a hammer as it was intended, we are using it in the right way. If we are using the bathroom as it was intended, we are using it in the right way. If we use a laptop or phone or bed as it was intended, we are using it correctly.
But perhaps you see a problem now. Whose intention determines how a thing ought to be used? The inventor? The builder? The owner? The ruling authority? All the above?
Yes, all the above . . . and higher still. Ultimately, God determines how we ought to operate machines and tools and bathroom stalls. He also determines how we ought to operate ourselves. Take God out of school, and the determiner of good or evil is injury and money.
More Big Concepts Broken Down for Kids: All the Injustices Made Right, Why I Said No TV, Analyzing the Misuse of Authority, Completing the Argument Cycle, Rules for Disagreeing, An Explanation of Authority,
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