I suppose that I could really go off the deep end here about the national debt of the United States of America. That is not what my thought is today. I rarely, if ever think about our national debt. It gets expressed in numbers so large that they actually mean nothing to me. It is therefore time for me to introduce you to a cultural form of indebtedness that doesn't get much play here in North America. It is what I want to translate into English as the Debt of Good Conscience. I am calling it that from the concept of the debt culture of countries in Asia and other parts of the world. In the Philippines, the Tagalog culture calls it Utang sa loob. That is to say, Internal debt (internally known through a sense of gratitude). In the Ilokano culture. It is called Utang a naimbag a nakem. Good will debt. I have heard that other cultures have a similar cultural idea of moral indebtedness but I am not familiar with them, so I will stick to what I know. This is a more complex form of indebtedness than appears on the surface. There is a part of this debt that can never be repaid. That which is "owed" to parents, close relatives, siblings and other special people who have participated in the person's upbringing. There is another level of debt that is generated by the "normal" exchange activities of life. The relationship to the school teacher, the minister, the employer, the friend's parents and the friend, of course. This is a debt that can generally be satisfied through the gentile and polite exchanges that take place between people throughout life. We have a level of this in our culture as well. We usually call it "social pressure" or "social obligation." We also catch ourselves saying things like, "I really have to got to this birthday party. They do so much for us." As you know, we have a lot of this that goes on in life, but we don't seem to have a good name for it yet.
The highest form of this debt is practically impossible to wipe clean. Most often the principals on either side of the debt scale die before the slate can be wiped clean. In some cultures, the person who leaves a large debt hanging out there is judged to be unworthy of a happy situation in the after life. Does that sound familiar? I don't know about you, but I've heard something akin to that in certain circumstances during my life.
Frankly, I more often than not, feel like I have some "debts of good conscience" out there that I will never be able to pay off. I also, frankly, try to smooth it over by being nice to others in the hope of putting the scales into balance. I hope that somehow that will work. I have one hanging out there that bugs me a lot. If I ever get the courage, I'll tell you about it. who knows, maybe if I publish it on the Internet, a solution might present itself. Now there's a thought. I think I will sleep on it first. It is a nice story, until it gets to the point where I goof. The more I think of it, the more I know I'm going to tell you about it.
As far as the USA national debt goes, my suggestion is, forget it. There's nothing we can do about it anyway.
