Well, here we go again.
If this country is going to get back on track, it will start with ethics. All of us are going to have to start doing what is right for all, or most, rather than doing what gets the most personal gain.
Lance Armstrong is only this week’s poster child for greed and deception. Sports is packed with cheaters. Football had a scandal involving the deliberate injuring of players. College football covered for a child molester. It’s so bad, baseball did not make a Hall of Fame selection this year. (And that was shameful because there are honest players deserving of the accolades.)
We have crooked politicians, greedy corporate CEOs, and scam artists of record scale. From the highest levels of sport, government and business to the home, we have largely abandoned all modes of moral navigation for greed and self-satisfaction.
It sickens me. It sickens because there is a lack of outrage.
It sickens me to see so much complicity with abhorrent behavior when people can grab a benefit from the deceit of someone else. Armstrong was on a team that participated in the same level of cheating.
We’ve seen guys buy their way out of rape accusations with ‘settlements’ to victims. In cases where great wealth is involved, it has become common to see the cheated spouse sporting new jewelry (Kobe?). Oprah will benefit from the Armstrong interview. Scandal is very good for the entertainment business.
Was there great competition to host a 3 hour interview with the winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine? Frankly, I can’t even name him…or her.
Lance Armstrong is just the latest member of the American Rogue’s Gallery, not the worst.
Look people, if we don’t get to a zero tolerance for crooked behavior, we will drown in corruption.
It’s everywhere. Monsanto is cramming crappy food down our throats. Coal companies are polluting air and water on a grand scale. Financial institutions are back to their old ways. Our government is paralyzed not from a split over ideology, but over lust for power. Homes break after a couple of years and a child.
This has to stop.
I want to work in 2013 to make our country better. I want to help companies get healthy and hire more people. I want our companies to actually care about employees. That’s my work so I am focused on business.
I believe we can get our country back on track if we get serious about ethics. I believe that is possible but I am very discouraged.
We must not tolerate, even admire, greedy, immoral and dishonest behavior even when offered our own crumbs from the take.
Finally, we must have the courage to call what is wrong, wrong. I’m tired of tolerance for the despicable and intolerance for rational discussion. I’m also tired of being told not to be “negative” when confronting some nutty conspiracy kook.
There have been many times in our tarnished history when it became necessary for the good people of the United States to stand for right. Now is one of those times. Now.
The nuts may sit down. I’m not asking birthers, tea baggers or conspiracy nuts to join in. You have done your damage. I want to join with the level-headed, honest people to make 2013 a year of ‘Better”. If you believe the president is a closest Muslim out to take away your rights and that you would be better off in Oz, move there.
Is it too late? I really do not know.
Chris Reich, TeachU
FW46