Over the course of the Moving Difference project, I have talked with lots of people from all walks of life. I have noticed that in the fast pace society that is 2012, sometimes doing the right thing gets lost in the hustle and bustle of making what we think is a living or a life for ourselves. We might all have good intentions, but the difference between good intentions and doing the right thing is a murky puss within each of us.
I am talking about doing the right thing on big and little decisions in every day life. You know, walking against the light when it is only a minute more to wait for the signal to change, throwing trash out of the window when driving instead of doing it at the gas station and the list goes on and on. It is the small things that lead to bigger things like driving drunk and cheating on taxes.
Personally, I admit that I am not perfect in any stretch of the imagination. And please don’t think that I am either. I have made mistakes, small and big and continue to do so on a regular basis. But I do try and do the right thing each and every moment. The road to hell is often paved with good intentions and doing the right thing is easier to say than do.
My belief is that doing the right thing cost nothing. And with that belief also lays a mistake I found out recently. See you can have all the good intentions in the world and you can do the right thing but it might cost you.
Obliviously this cost isn’t something happens each and every time but it does happen. In example, if you report a colleague to the cops for drunk driving after multiple attempts of taking away the keys and even getting this person a cab, well, then you are doing the right thing. You are thinking beyond the simple fact of this person just wants to drive home and you know that there is a danger to the person and other people if this person does it.
What is the possible cost of doing the right thing? Well, for starters, isolation. Yup, if doing the right thing isn’t popular, you are going to be in the ice house for a while. Next, is the ugly part, people telling you that they only did it “once” or it isn’t a big deal or you don’t understand everything or the favorite among most “Everybody is doing it.” Nice huh? If it sounds like high school drama, then you must be doing something right. The next stage of justification and fake apology with no corrective measures, this really explains itself. And the last piece is usually anger at the person that actually did the right thing.
If above sounds all too familiar to you, well, that means you did the right thing. These stages are general in terms but they do apply to most of the “cost” of doing the right thing situations.
Even with a cost, doing the right thing isn’t something that I am willing to give up on. Perhaps it is a character flaw in me but I will always believe that doing the right thing will always prevail. My grand attempts to make the world a better place start with me doing the right things as well. And correcting my mistakes too. Which means starting now, no more crossing against the traffic lights, I am waiting for the light period.
Yes, I realize it is a small thing, yet it is the right thing to do, remember I already told you that I am not perfect, it is also the law. There are a few other “doing the right things” in my world that I will be taking care of over the next few weeks, stuff that needs to be fixed and changed for the better and because it is the right thing to do. I might not be popular afterwards but hey, I already know the cost of doing the right thing.
So if you find yourself thinking about doing the right thing today. Remember that it starts with you and goes forward. You are the changer, you are the difference, you are the example.
I close with a thought from a dear friend who told me this long ago:
“You already know what you have to do, go do it.”
Moving Difference 