A quirky sense of humor and a cynical streak seem to have been the impetus for an interesting book, published years ago, entitled The Peter Principle by educational scholar Dr. Laurence J. Peter. It is a hilarious look at the pitfalls of a bureaucratic organization. The original premise of the author is that in a hierarchically structured organization, people tend to be promoted up through the ranks until they reach their “level of incompetence.” But what does that mean? One might hope that increased competence would equal higher responsibility.

Nearly everywhere we look these days, we can see a lack of discipline exhibited in Western society. It is especially evident to those of us who remember how things used to be a few decades ago.

Discipline has been largely replaced by permissive philosophies, opposing time-honored practices that in the past instilled “good citizenship.” Those ways were considered too restrictive and thought to “stifle freedom of expression.” We are reaping the result of this permissive approach.

In April, “Yale University announced it had successfully resurrected the brains of more than 100 slaughtered pigs and found that the cells were still healthy. The reanimated brains were kept alive for up to 36 hours and scientists said the process, which should also work in primates, offered a new way to study intact organs in the lab” (Telegraph, May 6, 2018).

French President Emmanuel Macron is the man some are now calling “Europe’s leading figure” (Deutsche Welle, March 16, 2018). From his growing seat of power, he has created a new “10-nation coalition of the willing” to spearhead the European defense initiative (Politico, May 2, 2018).

In the late 1800s, a young Scotsman became a successful and widely read author. Robert Louis Stevenson is best known for his colorful adventure novel Treasure Island, but he also wrote an allegorical tale about good and evil in 1886 in his best-selling book entitled The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.