Morality deals with the principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior. It’s just that simple. Yet, in practice, so many have a hard time implementing such principles or putting into action what should be making the right decision when faced with doing the right thing.
Doing the right isn’t always ambiguous. It’s black or white. Seeing a fellow officer with his knee on the neck of a citizen, you intercede. Watching a fellow officer push an elderly man to the ground, you intercede. Seeing another shopper eat grapes while shopping, shake your head and keep it moving. Context matters, and there are things no matter what the underlying explanation may be, what you are witnessing is wrong.
In the case of the officers, we can be told that the hurt individuals have committed egregious crimes thereby warranting such actions. That is the court of public opinion until tried in a court of law. The shopper, could have purchased their fruit beforehand and was enjoying it as a snack while shopping.
The world is in a state of unrest. Our morality, or lack thereof is being viewed through a microscope every day. I’m proud of my family and friends who are stepping up in peaceful protests of the injustices we have endured for years and are willing to expose just how much bad behavior there is not only “out there” but also in their inner circles. Complacency is no longer a shield that can be used to hide which side of justice you stand on.
Big names like the quarterback Drew Brees, is finding out what the price of morality is when you put your finger in an open wound and refuse to hear what the nature of the cause of the wound is. Jobs are being lost when individuals are being exposed for their bigotry. Social media is a hot bed for hateful vitriol. They are being called out, and the price is unemployment and embarrassment.
Ask yourself, in this day and age, when we are clearly being exposed, what is the price of morality you are willing to pay? Will you be brave and stand up for the least of them and help fight the good fight? Doing the right thing shouldn’t be hard. It should come easy especially if you have been doing it for a while!
I’ll leave you with this….last night I had a deep “morality“ conversation with my husband about what happens when doing the “right” thing may not be the practical thing to do. It was an insightful, necessary and provocative conversation. I posed this to him and to you. If I had three late warnings at work and was on final notice, and I encountered someone in distress while on my way to work who needed my assistance, what do I do? The person needing my assistance is a stranger, they need medical care, and the situation is serious. Even the slightest delay with waiting for someone else to come along and help me with them and I will be late and fired. Morally, what should I do? What price am I willing to pay here?
Have a blessed day and be safe!
Galatians 6:9
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
7 replies on “The Price of Morality”
They often say sometimes doing the right thing isn’t always the easiest or what feels best. However Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is looking. I find it that the God that I serve honors honest behavior and pure intentions.
This is so true. It may not be the easiest choice, however it feels the best and is the most rewarding when you do it when no one else is looking. Intentions matter. We should not be looking for approval from others to do the right thing, it should come naturally.
I wanted to go deeper knowing that my immediate response would not allow me to consider this a dilemma. If I saw someone in distress, I would do what I could, stranger or not. However, I am thinking about the two rookie officers that are being charged with the death of George Floyd. On the job for four days, trained to not be insubordinate or override a superior officer, attempt to at least suggest assistance in some capacity until the medics arrive and perform CPR on Mr. Floyd. Is that officer equally culpable? What would have shown that he was concerned about the victim? Should he have tackled Derek Chauvin? What would you do?
This is a conversation that deserves a round table discussion and I hope it sparks individuals to do just that. When you begin to unpack the individual circumstances that are being played out before our own eyes, we HAVE TO go deeper and look at someone’s personal spiritual journey, faith walk, life status and so on to get an understanding of what led them to make the choices they did. For me, as you laid it out above and taking into consideration my finances, faith, family etc. an immediate response with no regard to consequences would have come from me. My track record proves that.
It’s easy to read this and think that you’d do the right thing regardless. However, until we are put in that position, it is hard to say with certainty for most. I know that because of the God I serve, I would stop and help. I’ve been in positions that were not comfortable or all that popular, especially in Corporate America…I recall a time I had just been reassigned to manage a team that was under performing and considered challenging to manage. The SVP’s called me into his office and pressured me to terminate the hardest to manage employee on the team. I refused. Instead, my response to him was, “I believe everybody deserves an opportunity and if I set expectations and coach them, in 30 days you’ll see a difference.” He couldn’t believe I was refusing his request, but he really had no grounds to take action against me. That team went on to lead the division and achieve the highest goals 3 consecutive years. Bottom line, no one had ever had a conversation with this person to find out what may have been wrong or what she really wanted to do. All they wanted was an opportunity to be trained properly and be treated with respect. She said, no one had ever asked her how she was doing or if she wanted to learn something different to enhance her skills until I took over the team…She had been working on that team for 13 years. The God in me will not sit back and allow others to fail just because someone has no hope in them.
So for me, my morality takes center stage because the God I serve is bigger than any job man can offer.
That is an awesome example. We must not allow others to lead the narrative of how we operate or what choices we make when it comes to the decision making that affects others. Your decision to do what you felt was right not only produced great fruit in the workplace with productivity, but the overall sense of understanding and compassion you showed I’m sure was appreciated with your leadership.
Certainly, spot on.