Doing the right thing
- ravrickman
- Feb 21, 2014
- 2 min read
Do the right thing because its right and not for the reward
Let me take you back to the 1925 U.S. Open in Golf. Mr. Jones was in contention. During the tournament, he was getting ready to hit a shot and he grazed the grass near his ball. He wasn’t certain, but he thought he saw his ball move. No one else saw it move, no one else thought he should penalize himself for something he was not certain of. As a consequence of taking the penalty, he did not win that tournament.
Later, as Mr. Jones was being praised for his integrity, he was quoted as saying, “You’d as well praise me for not breaking into banks.” He did what was right because he believed it was right. Over his career, Bobby Jones won 13 major tournaments and to this day is revered within the sport.
Alfie Kohn an American author echoes the words of the Rabbis said 2000 years ago. Do the right thing because its right and not for the reward.
In a 1995 interview about education he said: Rewards and punishments are both ways of manipulating behaviour, they are two forms of doing things to students. Rewards “control through seduction.”
Many of us are addicted to praise and we only do what’s right for the nice compliments we will receive. His 3cs are a possible solution. The first C is content. We have to fill our lives with meaningful activities. The second C is community: we need to be part of a safe environment in which we feel free to ask for help, one in which we learn to care about one another as opposed to having to be manipulated to share or not be mean. The third C is choice: Taking time to think about what we are doing and how and with whom and why. We learn to make good choices not by following directions but by making choices.
Its nice to receives treats, but we must learn to do what’s right because it’s the right thing, and if you find yourself being patted on the head, just say woof!
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