It would be nice to live in a world of ideological, social, and cultural homogeneity where everyone agreed and no conflict was necessary. In such an environment, it would be easy to decide on the “good” in society because uniformity of thought and opinion would make this obvious. Leaders could then be trusted to implement good laws and likewise be held accountable to them. But that simply isn’t reality. I don’t think I need to argue that point. Whether it should be reality, however, is where we are taking this essay. The ideological suppositions of both liberals and conservatives often bridge the claim of moral superiority. Those on the left may try to demonstrate, empirically, that a rational, secular human being can only come to one conclusion. When this fails in practice – since people are not so easily persuaded into one ideology – it creates a natural dilemma. If we disagree on truth, morality, and the question of the “good,” how can we still create a functioning, healthy, bene
It was colder than I expected. The skies were cloudy and grey. The streets damp from the rain. I could feel the wet gravel sneak into my dress shoes and cling to my feet. Walking hurriedly across a public square and down the cobblestone side roads, I felt my heart beating wildly. I was panicked. I felt out of place. Nothing was going according to plan. I had never been to Rome. But I had spent hours during the months before the trip researching and preparing – I felt I knew the metro system better than the Provo bus routes. But I hadn’t expected the construction, the closures, the broken metro-card machines. Or the cold and rain. As much as I loved traveling, I had made mistakes too many times to be comfortable in a foreign country where I did not speak the language. The other members of our group had decided to visit an archaeological site in another city. They were leaving later in the day and so most of them were sleeping in or touring other parts of Rome. We were not all in the
