Good, bad and ugly

Is morality taught to us or is it ingrained in our genes? That is part of the research being done by a Harvard psychologist and discussed in a recent Globe story.

I'm always impressed when I see cars stopped at a red light late at night when there is clearly no traffic coming across an intersection and no law enforcement around. It's proof that our society is holding together by some shared sense of right and wrong. On the other hand, when young people march off to fight in a war without questioning their elected leaders, I feel like there is too much blind subservience to authority in our world.

Some would say, of course, that morality is handed to us by a higher power, but I long ago gave up ascribing credit or blame -- or anything else -- to anything except physics, chemistry and the machinations of human beings.