We're expected to pledge sworn oaths and allegiances to various endeavors often beginning in school and throughout our careers and lives as adults. But do we actually follow what we swear (often to God) to do?
From the pledge of allegiance to marriage, scouting, courtroom witnesses, medical school graduates, military service, law enforcement, civic groups, public service and beyond, oaths and pledges are plentiful. I suspect you've also recited your share over the decades.
Yet here in 2021, what do all those words uttered into thin air for the public record really mean in a practical sense? Do they matter? Should they?
For some, giving their oath is dedicating their innermost bond, the solemn definition of who they are. However, my observation in recent years is this noble concept of raising one's right hand and pledging to do the right and honorable thing (under God) has devolved into little more than an expected formality.
That, my friends, truly is a travesty. If I swore on oath upon enlisting in the U.S. Coast Guard (which I did), was that just a paragraph to be spoken in 10 seconds or so, then ignored? Or was my oath intended to endure across a lifetime? If not, what did it matter?
Should any medical professional who takes the Hippocratic Oath be expected to abide by its compassionate "first, do no harm" pledge throughout a career, or only when it seems convenient? How about an Eagle Scout? A U.S. Marine?
For that matter, why do we even have oaths to live honorably by when only we know if we choose to abide by or ignore them?
On this topic, I recently read that Dr. Robert Orr, a Vermont physician, analyzed oaths in his profession and found their use grew in the 20th century.
In 1928, 24 percent of medical schools administered an oath, he told Jennifer Graham of Deseret News. That jumped to 72 percent in 1958, and 100 percent in 1989. These medical oaths ranged from the original to that of Moses Maimonides, a 12th century Jewish philosopher and physician, whose oath included the line: "May I never see in the patient anything but a fellow creature in pain."
Today, in a society with many specialized professions, it's become difficult to find a universal oath, Orr added, saying he still finds worth in the process. "I think the concept of taking an oath is a very good idea, but selecting what text to use is critically important. My bias is that it shouldn't be selected by students but by the profession itself," he said.
"If there are standards--and I think there are--practitioners of the art should articulate them, instead of asking new inductees to choose their own standards and boundaries," Orr continued.
Attorneys must take oaths before being eligible to join the bar. Witnesses in court swear to "tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth"; that practice dates to ancient Rome, and refusing to do that can land you in jail, Graham wrote. This is true in Europe as well as America.
There are many Americans, such as those with the Oath Keepers organization, for whom pledging their oath represents a sacred constitutional responsibility. Others in today's conflicted America do their best to discredit these members for remaining loyal to the Constitution that has served us more than 230 years.
What does that say about these men and women versus those of lesser commitment who ridicule Oath Keepers for striving to live up to the words they have sworn to live by?
Humans find it important to establish a set of noble principles and pledge oaths to follow them for the greater good of the species.
I assume we go to such bother so we can make our supposedly ingrained intentions publicly known.
Yet when even public servants at the highest levels who've taken oaths of their own obviously choose to violate them with no consequences to fear, I have to wonder: What genuine purpose is served by oaths?
I believe that when this nation was launched and its founders pledged oaths of loyalty and commitment, their words were mostly taken to heart at times under threat of death. But today?
Well, even the oath to protect and defend our Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic seems for many to ring hollow when we face reality and realize that,other than one's own conscience and moral compass, an oath is often and easily violated.
For some who recite an oath of allegiance, I suspect the process to them means raising their hand and muttering something to the effect: "I pledge allegiance to enrich myself while empowering my party's political ideology and raw power over Americans above and beyond the needs of all citizens or the survival of freedom in these United States of America."
OK, go ahead. Ask me how I really feel about the subject.
Now go out into the world and treat everyone you meet exactly like you want them to treat you.
Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist, was editor of three Arkansas dailies and headed the master's journalism program at Ohio State University. Email him at mmasterson@arkansasonline.com.