"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he " Prov. 23: 7

The concepts a person holds determine the attitudes and social reactions of that person. If I regard my neighbour as friendly and helpful, I will show friendship toward him. As I get to know him I will begin to trust him and will gladly help him if he needs a hand, I will be there In an emergency, to lend or borrow a tool or swap information. A social relationship will have developed between us. We will have automatically established concepts of social ethics such as knocking before entering his house and cleaning a borrowed tool before returning it Ours wiil be a social relationship which contributes in part to the wider social community. We need each other to fulfil our innate social drives. Much of our enjoyment of life comes from our social contacts. Life would be barren without them.

If we have personal notions that society is out there for us to exploit without ethical restraint, we become mental parasites even before we have defrauded any one. Defrauding comes later when the opportunity arises. We will have set ourselves up to feed on the trust and gullibility of society. Thus, we can turn ourselves into antisocial predatory creatures. It is surprising how many there are who have the attitude of 'do others before they do you'. There are companies too, who are ready to exploit the public without moral compunction.

Thank goodness there are many other persons and companies who, by fair and honest exchange, build up goodwill. Theirs is a policy of win-win. Both parties are pleased. For one to win, the other does not need to lose.

The social predator and the honest trader are both part of the society we live in. Their concepts are different from each other. Actions will inevitably follow their individual concepts. The concepts of socially ethical people will lead to a stable, safe, trusting and law abiding community where children will be taught to contribute to a stable and peaceful society. The concepts of the predator lead to a 'dog eat dog' ruthless society where trust, justice and safety become casualties. Yet even the parasite needs to maintain a circle of social equals.

We human beings are not innately virtuous, but we are innately social beings. This quality gives us a tremendous advantage in the understanding of ethics-Social ethics is perhaps the most powerful yet un-recognised community resource we have, because it complements our natural social drives, I would like to see a carefully structured programme to teach social ethics in our schools. We need to rescue children from becoming social predators. We should he equipping them to become socially conscious and informed contributors to the mental health, preservation and well being of our society and world.

Children can readily understand that we are all social creatures, that friendships are built by mutual exchange and trust. Like all of us, they need and want all the social benefits of communication, co-operation, trust, tolerance, compassion, tenderness, justice, friendship and love. These are natural human virtues, they are not religious. They give us our human quality. They will remain with us IF, and it is a big IF, our concepts are not polluted with unresolved anger, getting even, greed, exploiting the community and other antisocial behaviour,

Cultural instruction and learning does have a large influence on our behaviour. It can enhance or it can diminish our social drives depending on the source of the instruction. The basis however, of alt virtuous human behaviour springs from our inborn social nature. As Richard Leakey says, our species is endowed with an inclination to cooperate,

I hate the saying "don't get angry, get even", that is an antisocial concept which can only lead to discord and repetitive efforts to settle scores. Family and community conflict come from such ideas. They do not solve human problems, only perpetuate them.

The laws of social ethics are so simple and powerful. All of us can use them to our advantage. We invite from society that which we give to society. We get what we deserve. We are all contributors to our community. So you want a safe, trustworthy, orderly and caring society. Leam social ethics and teach your children the social advantage of communication instead of fighting; co-operation instead of vicious competition;