What we’re lacking in all scenarios, whether it is helping the planet, helping ourselves or helping one another is a moral underpinning. We have a strong tradition of individualism in this country but that was also tempered, historically, by people who were “God fearing” believers in life, liberty and justice for all (the Golden Rule).

If we lived in a world in which initiative AND ethics were equal partners in our definition of success, we would achieve that free market ideal in which all parties have equal access and opportunity. Too often we say the flaw is in the market or system of governance or education, when in truth it’s the breaking of that “social contract” or ideal that brings down markets, economies and individuals alike.

The breakdown of the social contract always starts small: It starts with the little decisions we make day-to-day: The teacher who does too little to make sure that students receive the help they need to succeed before they develop a poor view of themselves and/or education in general. It’s the financial trader who says “I’m just doing my job. It’s not personal” — and then proceeds to undermine a company that employs real people with real families at stake. It’s the politician who is elected by the voters but crafts legislation to give certain industries unfair advantages in exchange for a cushy consulting gig offered by that industry the moment he/she steps out of office. (This was the case with the de-regulating champion prior to the Enron/WorldCom collapse due to electric deregulation, and more recently the end-result of deregulating the financial industries — work that Sen. Phil Gram, among others.)

Every problem we see, environmental, social and spiritual stems from greed, selfishness and corruption. To the extent the educational system falters, you can bet the parents who fail to make a priority of their own child’s success are contributing factors. To the extent the government fails, it is because it has become an object of manipulation and coercion by select groups financing members of both major parties.

When we think of ourselves as islands and rationalize that our individual crumbs of apathy and irresponsibility “don’t hurt anyone” that is the slippery slope that undoes individuals first, families second, communities third, countries fourth and entire civilizations in the end. The history books are filled with examples of vaulted civilizations faltering under the weight of their own corruption (Roman Empire).

This won’t change until people begin to reawaken spiritually. And they are not going to do that if they don’t believe that spirituality and truth and all those other intangible “abstracts” have a place in the “real world”. Those principles matter all right: They are the underlying motives — or lack of motivation — for a better, more equitable world. Without them we are only as moral as our paychecks and self-interest dictates.

It starts with us, and it ends with our children: If we only took more time to educate children about what it means to be a spiritual, ethical person, the environmental, educational and economic problems we face would begin to reflect the more positive attributes of a more equitable and charitable people. It may not be politically correct to say so, but I firmly believe that if people believed in a higher power who had a personal interest in their character, it might ultimately make people in our society more accountable to one another (insofar as they believe this is what a loving God wants of them and for them). Spiritually and ethically speaking, better that we shoot for the stars and land on the moon, then aim too low. We’ve been aiming too low ever since it became fashionable in the mid 20th Century to say that religion and faith served no real purpose, and children — future MBAs, bankers, teachers, CEOs and politicians — had no real need to learn of them. Perhaps part of our educational aim — in the home, not the schools — should be to reacquaint ourselves and our children to faith traditions so many of us have largely neglected in recent decades.