ETHICS — THE REAL BOTTOM LINE
January 2, 2009 by Mike Hingson · Leave a Comment
As I sit here at my desk feeling the anticipation and joy at the prospects of the New Year – 2009, I cannot help but wonder what the history books will say about this past year that just ended – 2008. It was a year of great strides in medicine, advancements in technology and space exploration, and it was the year in which the United States elected its first African-American president, with the one of the highest recorded turnouts in American voting history.
No matter what future history books may say I think our overall perspective today is that 2008 was a bad year for the world. As the bottom dropped out of the economy, many people lost their homes, with more to follow in 2009; rising oil prices made the cost of driving prohibitive for many and drove home our helpless dependence on the capriciousness of foreign oil; and a few individuals manipulated the worsening situation to their advantage at the expense of most of us. People were driven to do things that only a few years ago they never thought to do including declaring bankruptcy, seeing their lives spiral out of control.
In September 2008, the home mortgage crisis became real for all of us. At best, many Americans live paycheck to paycheck and can barely keep their mortgage commitments. Because of greedy bankers and lenders who created and provided inappropriate mortgages many lost their piece of “the American dream.” Today thousands of families are still attempting to work out ways to keep a roof over their heads.
With all the bad news that we have had thus far, there are those who anticipate the coming of a second mortgage crisis. In October of this year I watched a television interview with a well respected member of the financial community who said that the “second mortgage crisis” will consist of people who simply decide to walk away from their homes and their mortgages even though they earn enough to make their payments and keep their commitments. This financial expert predicted that people will walk away from their homes simply to leave home payments behind, declaring bankruptcy even though they have no specific financial reason to do so. This person’s opinion was that many may consider it easier to simply avoid their obligations, rather than striving to meet them.
My wife Karen did not see this interview. However, the same day I saw the interview, she observed to me that she wouldn’t be at all surprised if “people just decided to walk away from their homes and their mortgages and leave it to the banks and government to sort out the mess”.
What a scary thought! Reasonably solvent people just walk away to avoid payments? Have we lost so much confidence in ourselves or have our standards degraded to the point where people will decide to simply not honor their commitments without negotiation or just because they don’t like the agreement? Where have our ethics gone?
I have heard my parents and my wife’s parents say that they grew up in a simpler time than the children of my generation. I have heard their parents say the same thing. I have heard people refer to the 1800s as a simpler time yet. Also, I have heard people of my generation say that today’s world is more complicated than it was even 30 years ago. All these remarks were made to explain why decisions were harder to make today and why perhaps children of the “modern generation” have a harder time keeping promises and commitments.
For my part I am sure that there are many things about “today’s world” which are more complicated than the world of 30, 50, or 100 years ago. The question we really need to ask ourselves is does the “more complicated”, and perhaps more stressful world of today justify violating the ethical standards passed down from generation to generation which requires that we keep promises and commitments?
I think not. President Jimmy Carter once said “we must adjust to changing times while holding to unwavering principles.” We live in a world today which indeed presents us with stresses, complications, and challenges perhaps more difficult than any humanity has faced in the past. With the advent of subsonic and supersonic air travel, communications through the Internet, radio and television, and even free cell phones, our world has become a very small place where the actions of one can affect the lives of persons many hundreds or thousands of miles away. The products of our “advanced civilization” should be encouraging us to make careful decisions and to be prepared to live with the consequences of those decisions. The message we should be hearing from our public officials and representatives, our friends, and even our own hearts should be one of encouragement to be prepared to keep commitments, and even look out for the other guy. Furthermore, our leaders should lead by example especially where promises and commitments are concerned.
Whether or not the “next mortgage crisis” really is one in which people will simply decide to walk away from their houses and house payments one thing is certain: through the media and possibly even through our own experiences we have encountered situations where some people have made decisions which go against the ethical and moral teachings we have made the rock and fabric by which we live. At times these bad decisions and actions such as those we have seen in recent months in the banking, housing, and American automotive industries have affected many people and become the headlines of media stories and seem to show the “easy” way to go. Often times the people who make these questionable decisions attempt to hide behind the law or distance themselves from the problem before the press and the public discover what was really going on. “People at the top” seem to think they can act with impunity and can get away with anything.
The unfortunate result of the bad and often unethical decisions made by leaders which lead to the economic crisis we face today has caused many people to lose their jobs, their homes, and even their life’s direction. The lack of ethics and propriety of a few have shaken the confidence and faith of many. Thus far we have not seen these individuals punished for their actions. Some have even received significant bonuses as they resigned or were forced out of their jobs.
It does not, however, have to be this way. If we choose, we each can decide to hold ourselves and those who lead us to the higher ethical standards and commitments we claimed to endorse. Barack Obama was elected by people who see change and a better life than the one we’ve experienced over the past eight years. I think deep down people want a leader who they feel demonstrates a higher ethical standard than the one we have seen from our current economic and government leaders. What we must keep in mind is that Barack Obama is only one person in that each of us needs to make a “higher ethical standard” a part of our own lives. The bottom line is that we can bring about ethical change if we first make and keep ethical commitments within ourselves.
Each New Year people make “resolutions” about how they will change during the next year. Most often these promises are unrealistic and are made without a plan to fulfill them. A resolution to live a more ethical life will not be easier to keep because of old habits and the pressure to keep doing business as usual. Neither Wall Street nor Main Street can or will change overnight. It will take resolve from each of us to make a reality the vision and dream Barack Obama promised on election night. The bottom line is that we have to start somewhere. How about right now?
SOME THOUGHTS ON BEING A DISABLED PERSON N TODAY’S AMERICA
January 2, 2009 by Mike Hingson · 5 Comments
As a blind person living and working in this wonderful country I have come to the conclusion that the Internet has quickly become one of the greatest tools I have the fortune to use. It gives me access to many things previously only available to those who can see. With the Internet I can conduct extensive research, go shopping independently, communicate with friends and colleagues, and even take the occasional survey in order to inform some unnamed and mysterious pollster about my opinions on this or that.
Earlier today I decided to put a little adventure in my life and answer an invitation to take an online survey. In this case I knew the source of the survey and was expecting it. In the course of answering the numerous questions on a wide variety of subjects I was asked my employment status. I was asked to check the box most relevant to my situation. The choices I was given included “employed,” “concerned about my employment status,” “have a family member who is unemployed,” “unemployed,” and “retired or disabled.” “Ding ding ding” went the alarm bells in my head! “Retired or disabled”? What a strange choice to offer. I am sure that the creator of the survey had the best of intentions, but in that one choice he or she promulgated the long-standing inequality faced by disabled people and once again promoted the perception that disabled people could not really be employed.
As a disabled person or, if you will, a person with a disability, I encounter daily misconceptions and incorrect perceptions about my blindness. For example, when I am using my guide dog people often ask me questions such as “how does your dog know where it is going” or “how did your dog know to make that last left or right turn”? The perception is that the dog does everything and that I just tag along for the ride. When I use my white cane instead of a guide dog people seem to think that I’m even worse off and are always asking if they can “help” me especially when in the course of walking my cane encounters an obstacle. In reality, the cane is supposed to find obstacles and objects and then I determined how to go around or avoid them. However, sighted people interpret my cane locating an object as me bumping into it which in fact is hardly the case.
I understand these misconceptions because from birth, children in our society are taught to see without getting any real instruction about how to use their other senses as alternatives to sight. We do not teach children real inclusiveness where disabilities are concerned. Our children grow up to believe that if they could not see they would not be able to function.
For many years the Gallup polling organization has conducted surveys which show that one of the top five fears in our country is the fear of blindness. To a slightly lesser degree, so-called able-bodied people fear most any disability according to Gallup surveys. Certainly we all feel afraid of the possibility that we might lose something that we deem important in our lives. Losing a sense or”ability” would constitute a dramatic change in the way any of us live. However, there’s a difference between the fear of losing an ability and the perception that without it we could not live a “normal life.”
When people ask me if I need assistance while walking down the street I know for the most part they have the best of intentions. The fact is, like any of us, sometimes I even need assistance. Each one of us needs help and assistance from time to time. For example, someone simply walking to their car while carrying a number of bags or packages can always use an extra hand or two. There is the occasional person who will offer assistance to an individual laden down with stuff they are caring to their car. Far be it from me to condemn someone who offers me assistance because the person asking to help might very well be the one who would lend an extra hand to the person carrying all those packages.
The fact is, however, that many people offer assistance to persons with a disability because they do not know that disability does not mean lack of ability or competence. For my part, it is important that I respond appropriately to offers of help. It does no one any good to react in anger to offers of assistance. An invitation to help is at least an opportunity to educate just a bit. I must admit that sometimes the role of constant educator does get a bit trying. Nevertheless it is important to me to be patient, and sometimes even bite my tongue while attempting to change someone’s incorrect perception about what I can and cannot do.
I am often asked if I believe that blind and other disabled persons are better off today than in the past. In some ways I believe that we are. For example for me as a blind person Braille is easier and cheaper to produce. Technology offers me a plethora of ways to access information, travel more independently than ever, and in general live life with less difficulty than before those technological marvels were made available to me.
On the other hand, are we more socially integrated into society than we were 50, 20, or even 10 years ago? I think not, or at least I do not believe that we are significantly better off from a true social integration standpoint. The survey I took this morning is a perfect example of the lack of integration we face. Rather than offering an option of “retired or disabled” a more appropriate choice of words would’ve been “retired or unable to work”. Being unable to work opens up a whole realm of possibilities including temporary injury, illness, a family situation, and yes even a possibility of a severe disability which specifically keeps someone from working.
I will know that I am truly integrated into society when people regard me as amazing because of some amazing thing that I do rather than because I do the same things that they do except that I happened to be blind. I will know that I’m a real first-class citizen when I can walk into restaurants with friends and the wait staff asked me for my order rather than asking my sighted colleagues “what does he want?” I will know that I have arrived when I can go to meetings and conventions where all the materials given to sighted people are available to me in Braille or another accessible form.
In 2008 we elected a new president of the United States who ran on a platform of change and hope. President-elect Obama’s platform included statements reflecting his concern about improving the status of persons with disabilities in this country. I hope he follows through on the views he expressed on his website during the campaign concerning disabled people.
True and full integration is not easy. It starts with desire and it continues with education. I invite your comments and thoughts on the discussion. Only through enlightened and frank talk can we come to a better understanding of ourselves and each other and eventually attain a real inclusive world.