I Owe It to My Family 605.3
An angry woman once approached me after a speech to tell me off. It's easy for me to talk about her responsibility to speak out and object to waste or wrongdoing, she said, but she's a single mother and her highest duty was to keep her job. If that meant occasionally looking the other way, so be it. I had no business trying to make her feel guilty for putting her family first.
As the father of five, her criticism hit hard and it took a while for me to sort it through, but I think we have to be very careful about using our families as an excuse for making choices that diminish our integrity. Financial security is surely important, but so is the moral example we set for our children and the foundation we give them to build their own lives on.
Suppose you're faced with a difficult choice at work where you think you'll be fired if you do what is right. Which is the better gift to your family: compromising your principles and sending the message that you can't always afford to be ethical, or demonstrating confidence that we can always afford ethics, that whatever happens we can make it, that in this family character really does matter and that no job is worth dishonor?
Sometimes the dues we pay to maintain integrity are pretty high, but the ultimate cost of moral compromise is so much higher. In fact, the more an act of honor costs, the more it's worth. And every example of moral courage contributes to a lasting legacy our children can and will be proud of all their lives. Don't give that up for the short-term benefits of security.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
What do you think of this commentary?
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Comments
But how many of us will really do the right thing in these times of economic hardship? It is my wish everyone will, but do you believe that?
It is my opinion the younger generations (35 and younger) are having a more difficult time with this than say my parents' generation. It seems as though these young people have a mentality that they deserve what is coming their way and they are entitled no matter what the circumstances. If they have to throw someone under the bus, no problem, they do that.
This commentary made me think of the Madoff Ponzi scheme that just recently broke and made the news. There was an example of someone doing the right thing in telling the SEC what was going on but no one wanted to believe him.
Just this week, I saw a news story which stated the FBI may have to take agents off of counterterrorism assignments so they can begin the investigations of the large number Ponzi-type schemes taking place in this country! Imagine, FBI agents who are working in assignments which help keep our nation safe from terrorist type activity are now having to investigate what really amounts to large greed, non-moral, non-ethical individuals who have stolen the trust away from the American people. Kind-of like corporate America, huh?
I still believe there are good, moral, and ethical people in this country but it is getting harder and harder to find them. It is my pledge to my children to raise them in a moral and ethical based household. They don't seem to be learning these values at school and they certainly don't see it on TV, so, as a parent it is my duty to teach these values to them. Sadly, I think I am beginning to be in the minority as a parent and not the majority.
Posted by: Brian | February 13, 2009 5:11 AM