Every morning begins beautifully and peacefully at the farm. I’m out tending to my garden; Maria is out tending to her much-loved animals. I’m staying out of the fray.

I’ve been thinking a lot about morality lately and why our leaders so often believe it is all right to wound, lie, and turn outbacks on people with low incomes.

For me, it boils down to this: Without an idea of God or faith to guide us, how can we – the secular culture – tell if a human being is good or bad, or even what that means?

Some theologians say we can only know that if we know our purpose and lives.

Looking at our deteriorating and wasted civic world, I know I need to stay out of that fray. It has nothing to do with me – it is not who I wish to be – or the life wantsh to live. People can argue all they want about politics, being “woke,” or our purpose, but arguing with hateful people on social media about morality is not the purpose for me.

It’s a choice.

I see it as a storm that will one day pass, a sickness that will heal because it is not like people to live permanently in such a poisonous and disturbing way. I meditate every day. I try to do good as I understand it every day of my life. It feels good and gives me great pleasure. Hating and fighting do not.

I’ll vote for whoever I choose in silence and privacy. My beliefs are my own unless I choose otherwise. I won’t argue my feelings with anyone or permit anyone to insult, patronize or diminish me.

I will live my idea of a meaningful and moral life; no one has to approve of me but me.

So far, so good. I’ve never felt so purposeful or peaceful.

In the secular, non-believing world, we do not generally believe that we have been created for any particular purpose; it is almost impossible to even talk about moral good and evil; it has so many different meanings.

Increasingly in the outside world, everyone has their own idea of morality and anything goes. Lying is dismissed as irrelevant and excusable. It can be ignored, even celebrated. Nobody worries about going to Hell any longer or about having their firstborn slaughtered by a vengeful God.

I think of the Amish approach to morality. Be honest, work hard, be good to one another, or burn in eternity, no arguments permitted. That is one way to be moral. That is often the way religion has worked.

Immorality and dishonesty are contagious. If our neighbor can get away with it, you can bet that his neighbor, child, or friend will try to do the same thing.

I don’t believe in God telling me what a good and bad life is; I must figure it out for myself. But I miss the structure in a way. Our culture has a giant sinkhole in the place of a shared sense of right and wrong. The Judeo-Christian ethic went a long way to defining morality for millions of people. It is barely mentioned anymore.

Our sense of a unified civic and political morality has collapsed without almost universally accepted that powerful ethic. So how are we supposed to respond to this?

Pessimism is not my choice. I am full of hope. But I wonder if I’m just swimming upstream.

It’s suddenly okay to lie, cheat, smear, and steal.

In some ways, it’s considered admirable, even heroic. To lie, to be cruel and greedy is a sign of defiance and courage, not dishonesty or evil.

Without a God or Jesus up there telling us what it means to be a good human, many of our leaders and their followers are learning that anything goes: right or wrong is what they say it is, not what a God says it is. The pious and just are fake.

The results make me feel lonely at times. I’m out of the fray. And I am no saint.

For us secular people, there is now a new and painful problem.

Since we generally don’t believe we were created to do good and be good,  our ideas about morality are all subjective, individual, and different. There is no unified position to argue, preach, or inspire, just the din and the fray.

There is no arguing that can work, only endless fighting without resolution.

I’m breaking out of that mold. I won’t join that circus. And I won’t be frightened or gloomy.

I’m creating my purpose for living – doing good and making the world a slightly better place than when I found it. I can’t help what others do. It’s too vast and complicated for a single aging person.

I am inspired by the courage and idealism of the young; they are beginning to stir and demand a moral system of government and culture. I believe they will spark a moral revolution. I believe it is 100 percent.

Polls show that roughly 30 percent of younger people believe that there is no such thing as a definite right or wrong that apply to everyone all of the time.

I’m 76, but that’s my position as well. I get to define right or wrong myself and apply that to my life. I don’t tell other people what to believe or think that I know.

I get to live my idea of a moral and meaningful life, not someone else’s moral and meaningful life. I hope God exists, but it he doesn’t, I’ll go my own way.

I guess that’s my God now, the voice within, and he or she will reveal himself to me, right or wrong.

That is bringing me peace and meaning. It’s about time.