It seems like we are always in flux.  Each generation wrestles with morality; with defining what is right and what is wrong in word and deed.  Is it important to act in a morally “right” way?  Is it important to do “the right thing”?

Societies have norms that guide how their members function.  Some call these guides “social control mechanisms”.  Consider the 10 Commandments, the Golden Rule, shunning, excommunication, shaming, spanking, time out, the Black Ogre Kachina, and what I like to call “the mother look of death” – all designed to shape our behavior and encourage us to follow a prescribed set of norms, differentiating acceptable from unacceptable.

What underlies these norms?  Who determines what is the right thing to do?  My father seemed to understand at a core level what it meant to do “the right thing.”  He passed that on to us.  It guided our behavior.  It was natural to treat others with respect and dignity.  We respected our elders, our teachers, service providers, the weak, the infirm our peers.  We weren’t allowed to fight, call names, take advantage, lie or cheat.  Crossing those lines had consequences, which included my father’s disappointment in us – something I could not bear and which brought me to tears.  Such was his sway.  He did not spank.  He did not yell.  He sat us down and talked with us about the behavior and how it was impacting another precious life.  I still know my father was right.  Part of our responsibility as human beings is to care for one another.  Not just our families and friends, but everyone.  People matter.  Everyone is entitled to enjoy their right to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”.

At this point in history, the world seems out of kilter with so much vitriol around us, with all the suing and shaming and hating and killing. As people, we need to reassess what we want the world around us to be like and how we plan to comport ourselves in it. We need to recommit ourselves to doing “the right thing”.  Can we improve our world, our lives by deciding to do that everyday?  To teaching our children how to do it?  To set an example for those who don’t understand how to do it?  To demand it of our leaders, of our peers?

Of course, that said, the first order of business is coming to a consensus.  What do we mean when we say, “Do the right thing”? For the sake of discussion, we can consider what others have had to say about doing the right thing. I believe it Plato who said whether human actions are right or wrong depends on the actor’s overall purpose.  Aristotle said for an act to be virtuous it had to involve the right person at the right time to the right extent in the right manner and for the right reason.  I think Socrates suggested morality was reflected in each society’s world views as a universal truth.

The Institute of Ethical Leadership says that to do “the right thing” means to make a choice among possibilities in favor of something the collective wisdom of humanity knows to be the way to act.  The Bible commands us to “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”. Martin Luther King, Jr. said “The time is always right to do what is right.”  Pearl Buck stated, “You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel, but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings.”  Benjamin Franklin had an interesting comment in saying, “Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.”

If, as Aristotle said, knowing ourselves is the beginning of all wisdom, let’s find out how we really feel about “doing the right thing”.  I’d love to hear your thoughts.