Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater is an idiomatic expression used to suggest an avoidable error in which something good is eliminated when trying to get rid of something bad.

When it comes to a moral code and freedoms in this country, it feels like the infant is being tossed right out.

This week’s political statement by standup comedian and actor, Kathy Griffin, is just one more example of how far ethical standards have declined.

Griffin, along with photographer Tyler Shields, apparently thought it would be advantageous to their cause to photograph Griffin holding up a bloody head representing the president.

I wonder at what point this duo thought this was a good idea? Surely, it was not after they had considered how devastating their so-called moment of artistic freedom would affect the families who had lost loved ones to similar heinous acts of violence by ISIS and such extremists.

It seems we are becoming a nation that is so narrowly focused on our individual rights that we are forgetting about our fellow citizens.

I do not think for one minute our founding fathers had any intentions, when they wrote the Bill of Rights, that the citizens of the U.S. would discount ethics when it came to freedoms.

Just last week, I heard a song on the radio that not only used vile and racist language, the lyrics were appalling. No wonder the younger generations are losing touch with a value system. Listening to music of this nature day in and day out desensitizes emotions, which ultimately weakens a sense of right and wrong.

However, it is not only misguided youth or the music industry that is corrupting our culture; Griffin is my age. Freedoms come with great responsibility and holding true to our liberties does not mean discounting moral values.

As parents, we gradually lengthen the ropes of freedom as our children develop. We do this to help teach limitations and responsibility. However, if and when they may go too far, we pull back on their liberties.

Morals used to serve in this role, but the water has gotten dirty and the baby is nowhere to be found. It is imperative for us to know where our freedoms end others’ begin, because in today’s culture, it feels like we are stomping all over one another.

I am a person who values acceptance and creative and artistic expression, so some may say my opinion is contradictory. And certainly, by expressing that we need a moral compass nationally treads on a slippery slope, but my heart tells me that in order for civilization as we know it to survive, there must be a value system in conjunction with freedoms to protect us from ruin.

Vulgarities and extremisms serve no purpose. It only mires the water, making it that much more difficult to distinguish between the baby and the dirt we seek to toss.