Re: doing the right thing/consequences
Anthony Mako (ajmako@NLS.NET)
Tue, 6 Jul 1999 12:32:50 -0400
<Len Christiansen wrote>
Isn't the important thing here to remember that the "right thing" was
done only after a "wrong thing" was done. There are consequences for
wrong behavior, even though we are very sorry for the wrong behavior
after the fact. Sometimes those consequences are very serious and very
long lasting. Sometimes only a temporary loss of trust, sometimes a
life long loss of freedom, or even loss of life.
</Len>
Len,
Intent plays a big role here. In the original post, it was clear that
the Scouts in question were surprised that the machine they were
playing with gave them a reward. Upon being surprised, and being asked
about it, they did the right thing by telling the truth about what had
happened. They weren't intending to "rob" the candy machine; it just
happened. Therefore, they really didn't do anything wrong.
There next act was to return the candy bar, plus the money it would
have cost them, to the rightful owner. Their intent was to explain
that they received the candy bar by mistake, and return it. The
reaction of the camp's employee was completely wrong.
<Len continued>
A Scout is trustworthy; he can be trusted to the right thing the first
time, not only after he wants to make amends for wrong behavior. Trust
is a delicate thing. it difficult to earn, easy to lose, and nearly
impossible to re-establish. Perhaps that is why it is the first point
of the Scout Law.
</Len>
Scouts are still human. They make mistakes, and occasionally find
themselves doing the wrong thing. Yes, that leads to a loss of trust,
but how would you have a Scout regain that trust? Perhaps by trying
harder to do the right thing? That's what these Scouts did. Trust is
"nearly impossible to re-establish" only when we continue to hold the
wrong act against a Scout regardless of his efforts to regain our
trust.
If you were to encounter a Scout who stole something, you would lose
trust in that Scout. When the Scout returns the thing he stole,
hopefully he will have taken a step toward regaining your trust. If
you continue to concentrate on the fact that the Scout committed a
wrong act, he will NEVER be able to regain your trust! He will never
be able to prove to you that he is trustworthy.
When a Scout raises his hand in the Scout sign and pledges himself to
the Scout Oath, he says "On my honor I WILL DO MY BEST to ... obey the
Scout Law..." We cannot expect him to be perfect. We cannot expect him
to ALWAYS do the right thing. We CAN expect him to ALWAYS DO HIS BEST
to do the right thing. He his human after all, and humans do have
weaknesses that are often hard to overcome. There are many forces at
work in the world which confuse the issue of what is right and what is
wrong. Even adults have a hard time knowing exactly what to do in any
given situation.
<Len continued>
Honesty did not hurt these Scouts, the original dishonesty did. The
real victim may well be the clerk who lost her job because trust had
been broken.
</Len>
Len,
Try putting yourself in those Scout's shoes. Everyone who has ever
dealt with a vending machine has found themselves in a situation where
the machine does the unexpected. It is, after all, just a machine.
There are times when the machine takes your money and thanks you for
your patronage without giving up any merchandise. There are also times
when the machine takes your money, gives you what you want, and then
returns your money. And there are times when the machine will give you
something without taking any money (i.e. hitting the coin return
button). Ask yourself what you would have done if a vending machine
suddenly showed a $.50 credit just by flipping the coin return (I've
seen it done many times BTW). Is flipping the coin return on a vending
machine you haven't put money into a wrong act?
Many adults I know would say that there's nothing dishonest about
taking advantage of a vending machine because vending machine often
take advantage of us. They believe that the universal vending machine
accounting system makes sure everything evens out in the end. My
personal view is that the real purpose of vending machines is to tempt
us.
To assume that the Scouts in question were being dishonest by "messing
around" with a vending machine shows a propensity to DISTRUST. Their
later action of returning the merchandise and funds more than makes up
for their actions. I would also like to make two other points: 1) The
SM. and SPELL have the responsibility of controlling the conduct of
the Scouts in their charge and it was the SPELL who explained the
situation and attempted to resolve things; 2) the camp employee
disregarded the attempted resolution entirely and further tried to
punish the entire troop for the actions of a few Scouts.
The right thing to do whenever you hurt someone else is to apologize
and make up for the injury. If the injured party refuses to accept the
apology, they start down the path of retribution which quickly becomes
a cycle of wrong acts. The only way to break the cycle to for one
party to commit a right act, and the other party to accept the right
act as a resolution (also a right act). There are two long held and
often repeated philosophies that go to the heart of this: "Two wrongs
do not make a right." and "Treat others as you would like to be
treated."
YIS
A. J. Mako, ajmako@nls.net , Scoutmaster Troop 381
Home of the Unofficial Win95 Boy Scout Desktop Theme,
http://members.aol.com/Scouts381/
Old Portage District, Great Trail Council, BSA
"I used to be an Eagle (C-7-97), but I'll always be an Eagle (1981)"
