Making a Difference

Ask a room full of people about today’s state of affairs and most will shake their heads in dismay. Yet humans are a creative lot. If we don’t like what we’ve created, why don’t we change things? To change anything one must be conscious of both the problem and its underlying causes. Since beliefs determine behavior, the place to start is by exploring the distorted beliefs and misconceptions that lead to our present set of difficulties. In many instances, selfish, short term thinking leads to unethical behavior that lies at the heart of most of our problems. 

Many people know they act irresponsibly from time to time. Some fudging on taxes, occasional little white lies, disregard for the environment, favoring friends over strangers even when less worthy; these are a few of our common foibles. Relaxing personal standards at home and work encourages authorities on the world stage to do the same. International business scandals, widespread political corruption, unconscionable environmental degradation and even ethnic cleansing are magnified reflections of what happens everyday at the personal level. The chart on Institute of Ethical Awareness’ website (www.instituteforethicalawareness.org) shows how seeming innocuous unethical lapses can lead to planetary turmoil. No one is perfect nor are they expected to be, but continuous improvement is certainly a reasonable and worthy goal. The short ethics test below, can help us be aware of the semi-automatic reactions we tend to make when facing day to day decisions that have an ethical dimension.

1. How am I affected by the choice being considered?
2. How are others affected? Who and how many will be helped or harmed?
3. What are the long-term consequences of my choice? Can I think of any unintended consequences?
4. If the details of my decision were reported on the front page of the local newspaper, what would I think?
5. What choice would I advise my child to make?
6. Does it pass the smell test? Does it feel right?

Greater awareness of how our choices impact others encourages better decisions and improved conditions for everyone.

We can all make a difference one choice at a time.

David Schwerin www.consciousthinking.com

http://www.speakingtree.in/spiritual-blogs/masters/self-improvement/making-a-difference