Do the right thing

Do unto to others as we would want them to do unto us is a virtue that many of us have been taught, but struggle to achieve. My very wise, but now deceased professor, Sr. John of Carmel, once told me that we can only call ourselves good when we have been tempted and not fallen into temptation.

            I had the great fortune this past week to have met someone who had the opportunity to choose to do the right thing.   And I thought that it was important for me to highlight this individual since it is a young man just now learning how to make those right decisions.   He is only now having those life experiences that will afford him the opportunity to choose to do what is fair and just.   And the story goes…

            Last week I dropped my cellular phone on the grass at one of the local schools.   About fifteen minutes passed before I noticed it was missing.   When I began to inquire into the matter, one of the young students said he saw someone pick it up and place it into his pocket.   Well once I heard this, I figured my phone was gone forever.

            As soon as I was able to, I began calling the phone, but it kept ringing.   So as not to incur an astronomical phone bill, I called the telephone company to have the phone turned off.   The following morning I called the school where I had dropped it to find out if anyone had turned it in, and to my surprise the phone had in fact been turned into the office.

            I was ecstatic not only that the phone was returned but that it was an adolescent male who found the phone and turned it in.   All too often we berate our youth, especially the males, so to have a young man do the right thing made me feel even better about the whole situation.

            Because of his honesty and integrity I shared this story with his class and they applauded him, but he seemed rather embarrassed by the whole situation.   I thanked him publicly because I thought it was necessary in light of the negative press young men usually get in this country.

            For this young man to have chosen to do the right thing means that he has been taught well by his parents and other significant people in his life.   All of us learn very well from example.   We pattern behaviours and attitudes of people we admire or want to emulate.   Therefore if we only exhibit nasty, selfish, inhumane behaviours and actions, then that is what children will follow.

            While positive examples may be exhibited for young people to model themselves after, some still choose not to do what is right. To not do the right thing means that you must be willing to endure the consequences meted out.   But when we do the right thing, it is also good to be rewarded and affirmed for our efforts.

            According to Sr. John’s philosophical view on what is good, this young man can definitely say that he did a good deed and is in fact a good person.   While someone may have seen him put the phone in his pocket, there is no evidence to suggest that he would have been identified.   I don’t know how he reasoned whether or not to turn in the phone, but at the end of the day he did what he thought was the right thing to do.

            How many of us can say that we do what we know is the right thing to do, even if no one else would know except us?   It is easy to do the right thing when everyone is watching, but what about doing the right thing when the only one watching is your inner eye?

            Just as “The Mayor” (Ossie Davis) told “Mookie” (Spike Lee) to “do the right thing,” in the same titled film, this week I challenge you to do the same.   Doing the right thing in many instances is doing something that is not easy.   It may entail you doing something that may put you at a disadvantage.   But at the end of the day, when you do the right thing, you will be able to call yourself good and feel good about who you are and where you are going in your life.