On the ladder of the morality of humans,
there is a massive distance between the first level that is to share our things with others and the level that when we can understand the difficulties of the national leaders to use the state budget so that we like to pay taxes.
THE LADDER OF MORALITY PARALLEL TO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
The first manifestation of human morality is sharing. Parents cook then give the food to the children. Mothers breastfeed her babies. Fathers hunt animals and preserve them as the food for their children. That is maternal/paternal instinct. To a bit higher level, when you find your neighbors lack food, then you ask your children to bring them some. This is a bit of love and sharing. Likewise, when a kid is eating some cookies, and another is approaching to ask for some. If the kid gives some cookies, then he has basic morality.
Higher than sharing is the awareness of your responsibility to your family, life, the society, and your fulfillment. However, there are seven levels of the sense of responsibility. The level of humans' responsibility and its coverage is a measure of whether humans' ethics can keep up with the advancement of science and technology.
Between paying tax and tax evasion, which one do people like? Most like tax evasion, that is, they don't want to carry out the duty of a citizen.
Everyone like the roads they go to be flat, broad, beautiful with enough lights, always cleaned up. Also, bridges, schools, hospitals, entertainment areas, etc. are vast and safe. It means people like to live in a "5-star country" but pay just "1-star taxes." Is it fair? Of course not.
You have to pay a little to stay in a 1-star hotel, and everything is straightforward since it's suitable for your budget.
But if you choose a 5-star hotel, everything will be completely different. You stay in luxury and are served everything you need. However, you have to pay much more than when you stay in a 1-star hotel.
So it's unfair if people want to live in "5-star country" but pay "1-star" amount of money. Why? Because people like tax evasion, but why? Because of their lack of civic responsibility.
Rare people can understand the worries of the country's leaders. With the limited budget, they must bring the best to the people. The Department of Defense must be strong, the society must be secure, the politics must be stable, education, technology, etc. must be available to the people but with the limited budget because the people contribute a little amount of money. So, who can use the budget effectively is a genius.
In Vietnam, most young families have low income. However, everyone wants a comfortable life with their children being healthy, receiving a good education, and they still have savings. It's a challenging problem to young wives who are in charge of their families.
But, national leaders have to solve problems millions of times more difficult. Most of us don't know their worries. We want to live in a "5-star country" but don't want to pay taxes. It is our lack of a sense of responsibility.
The concept of a sense of responsibility to life is so high that not everyone can fully understand. We're ethical to come here today to listen to this sermon. But when asked which one is preferred: to pay taxes or to evade? And everyone prefers the latter. Because the concept of a sense of responsibility to the country is complicated to understand and difficult to achieve.
We can reach the first level of morality that is we can share something with another. But, to the degree of trying to pay taxes for the state budget to build a "5-star country", or to pay taxes more than your duty is something we cannot understand. Only wise ones have such a sense of responsibility.
On the ladder of the morality of humans, there is a massive distance between the first level that is to share our things with others and the level that when we can understand the difficulties of the national leaders to use the state budget so that we like to pay taxes.
Written by:
Janna
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