DEBT OF GOOD CONSCIENCE

Every U.S. citizen including all newborn babies owe a $46,000 as their share of national debt.   
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.

FLESH, YES -- BLOOD -- NO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shylock
I admit to you that like so many others in this country, debt is something that I have on my mind a lot.  Not only that, but since I am 20 years behind the curve that most people follow, my debt structure is very interesting indeed.  But, that is not what the thought is about, this time.  Debt, yes.  Mine, no.
Believe it or not, there is a philosophy of debt that is not agreed upon by all.  Here in the United States it appears that we have the Shylock philosophy.  Pay or die.  We seem to  have the attitude that the lender is a scoundrel without any philanthropic bone in his body.  Not a charitable corner in his heart.  Here in the United States, debt, for the most part, is a non-negotiable contract.  The only negotiation possible is at the beginning and cannot be amended along the way.  Either you pay or you go to jail.
For a long time, lending was the bailiwick of the Jewish community.  It was thus because the Christian belief of the time was that interest charged on a loan was sinful.  The concept of affordable interest had not yet been developed.  We are all aware, that things have changed since then.  We are also well aware that there is a prevailing attitude that lenders are indeed scoundrels.  We are also very much in accord that debt is a good thing that has to be managed properly, on both sides of the moral scale-- by the lender as well as by the borrower.
There is an interesting history about the phenomenon of debt.  In some cultures, when the king died and a new king was crowned, the populace would be rewarded by the forgiveness of all debts.  All slates were clean and everything began at zero.  I do not know if this custom continues anywhere in the world.  I wonder if anyone owed Kaddhaffi any money.
I am not Jewish, but I do know that the law of the Sabbath states that every seventh year (Sabbath)  all debts are to be forgiven.  The other thing that I do not know is if this is still practiced in the Jewish Community.  The other practice that I do know exists is that the very rich, individuals and corporations as well as countries negotiate and renegotiate debts all the time.  All you have to do is to watch the news on television fairly regularly and you will get to know it.  Those who do not get to negotiate the terms of the debt are the "Antonios" of the world who are indebted to the "Shylocks."
It is therefore a part of my thought, some of it old (The Bible and History part of it) and some of it rather recent, is that the world owes it to itself to rethink the philosophy that describes debt in these times.  You may or may not agree with me, but that's OK.  I'm easy.  I don't even mind if we write it "debt" or "dett" or even "det."  Oh, hey wait a minute.  Maybe we could start the rethinking process by negotiating over the orthography of the process.  Good idea!  Let's do it.