There's a quotation I remember from Budd Schulberg, author of On the Waterfront and What Makes Sammy Run? Sammy (he who is running) says, "Going through life with a conscience is like driving with your brake on."
So, to continue from my last post, what do you do with your corporate conscience? When in your corporate past you've evicted widows and orphans, poisoned the environment, discriminated against minorities and the like. Assuming those behaviors are no more, do you acknowledge them, or sweep them under a blood-stained carpet?
If you were running for political office and had whored, drugged and whored some more as a youth, do you acknowledge this or hope no one ever finds out? My personal belief is to always come clean. To mea your culpa while ye may and make tangible, sincere amends. I'd forgive Thyssen-Krupp, Hugo Boss and Mercedes-Benz their Nazi complicity if they even acknowledged their Nazi complicity. But I am exacting and Old Testament in my imprecations, so I don't really count.
4 comments:
Geo,
All too true. Unfortunately I'm afraid conventional "wisdom" is more akin to H.L. Mencken --"Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking."
“If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions.”
Thomas Jefferson quote
Guess we've gone to the wolves
I'll try to be a little cheerier for now on.
Sorry.
born in sweden i walk around with the feeling that my home country swapped some short term suffering for eternal shame.
Post a Comment