It seems that there is a difference between lying and not telling the truth, until you're caught out.
Recently former Federal Court judge Marcus Einfeld was sentenced to jail for telling lies. All in an attempt to avoid a $77.000 traffic fine. Not too much later the government dismissed Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon's failure to disclose trips to China as a "lapse in judgement".
Now, I'm not an expert but it seems bizarre to me that we would sentence any person to jail for lying. Given the costs of incarceration and the apparent over population of jails - I am sure there has to be a better way of publicly shaming and punishing a person for lying. Or is Einfeld being punished so harshly because he is supposed to be a man of truth, a man we respect both for that which he has achieved and for the office that he held.
On the other hand a sitting government minister (a man elected to represent the public) speaks in parliament and acts contrary to accepted and published rules of behaviour and he is excused, his is just a 'lapse in judgement'!
Public figures: church leaders, government ministers and judges should be held to a high standard. We should be able to rely on them to tell the truth. But maybe we should hold them all to the same standard. There should be no parliamentary privilege, or governmental grace, that excuses a 'lapse in judgement'.
The same standard by which Einfeld was judged for a $77.00 lie should be used to examine Fitzgibbon's (perhaps) $ 10,000.00 lie.
Any person that seeks a position of power; any person that represents others, should be held to the highest of ethical standards. No person who seeks to be a leader should be excused for a deliberate, self-protectionist, lapse of judgement: a lie. I join Prime Minister Rudd in his understatement, I "expect better'.
Let's be honest Fitzgibbon's (and Einfeld's) main problem was that he got caught. It's just as well we can expect better of all our other politicians, church leaders and judges otherwise our jails might be a little more crowded and our parliaments, churches and courts a bit emptier!
Monday 30 March 2009
Wednesday 11 March 2009
Attitude
When a motivational products company interviewed Tim Dumler by phone for a sales job, he told them his goal was to become their number one employee.
After meeting him in person they were shocked to discover he was legally blind. But he promised he'd buy a machine that magnifies letters. So, despite serious misgivings, they hired him. And it's a good thing they did. He came in early, worked late, and within six years became their top producer.
His clients loved him because when you're blind you become a great listener. And his associates loved him because of his caring, positive attitude. He said, "It's unfortunate that I'm visually impaired but adversity made me a better person. I have a lot more than I don't have."
Tim has the 100-degree attitude!What's the 100-degree attitude?
At 99 degrees Celsius water is hot. At 100 degrees it boils. With boiling water comes steam. And steam can power a train. One extra degree makes all the difference in business and in life; it separates the good from the great. (Story from the Web)
Attitude, yours and mine, has an amazingly powerful influence on the effectiveness of our ministry.
Attitude can reveal more about who you really are than anything you say, or do. It can be that one thing that makes me want to hear what you say, or walk away. And that’s completely unfair because it’s entirely subjective—and often irreversible.
Integrity (and therefore potential for influence) can be destroyed in five seconds by attitude, but confidence and trust take infinitely longer to rebuild.
After meeting him in person they were shocked to discover he was legally blind. But he promised he'd buy a machine that magnifies letters. So, despite serious misgivings, they hired him. And it's a good thing they did. He came in early, worked late, and within six years became their top producer.
His clients loved him because when you're blind you become a great listener. And his associates loved him because of his caring, positive attitude. He said, "It's unfortunate that I'm visually impaired but adversity made me a better person. I have a lot more than I don't have."
Tim has the 100-degree attitude!What's the 100-degree attitude?
At 99 degrees Celsius water is hot. At 100 degrees it boils. With boiling water comes steam. And steam can power a train. One extra degree makes all the difference in business and in life; it separates the good from the great. (Story from the Web)
Attitude, yours and mine, has an amazingly powerful influence on the effectiveness of our ministry.
Attitude can reveal more about who you really are than anything you say, or do. It can be that one thing that makes me want to hear what you say, or walk away. And that’s completely unfair because it’s entirely subjective—and often irreversible.
Integrity (and therefore potential for influence) can be destroyed in five seconds by attitude, but confidence and trust take infinitely longer to rebuild.
Tuesday 3 March 2009
Bushfires
I have had the privilege of working in the communities of Whittlesea, Kinglake, Kinglake West and Flowerdale over the past three weeks. Called up to help coordinate the Material Aid Centre in Whittlesea I spent the first 10 days or so working with a team of people that took delivery of the mountain of generous donations given by people from all over Australia.
My role in the last few weeks has changed focus to the affected communities (pictures opposite) up in the hills. It's here that I have experienced, and been on the receiving end, of just about every human emotion. And most of this as a result of well intentioned people; people who want to help and so make promises that cannot be kept, (or at least not in the time frame that the affected people need).
One of the things I am reminded of in this experience is that well intentioned is not good enough! It is not good enough to send well intentioned people into these environments - we need people that understand the emotional and physical roller coaster that is in play here. We need experienced people that are able to separate the barrage of anger from the release of frustration and fear.
We need organisations that have used the devastation to gain exposure by advertsising assistance to keep their word!
No longer is it good enough to promise and hope delivery is possible - we need to be professional: we need to know our limitations, our resources and our capacities and we need to do what we do well.
My role in the last few weeks has changed focus to the affected communities (pictures opposite) up in the hills. It's here that I have experienced, and been on the receiving end, of just about every human emotion. And most of this as a result of well intentioned people; people who want to help and so make promises that cannot be kept, (or at least not in the time frame that the affected people need).
One of the things I am reminded of in this experience is that well intentioned is not good enough! It is not good enough to send well intentioned people into these environments - we need people that understand the emotional and physical roller coaster that is in play here. We need experienced people that are able to separate the barrage of anger from the release of frustration and fear.
We need organisations that have used the devastation to gain exposure by advertsising assistance to keep their word!
No longer is it good enough to promise and hope delivery is possible - we need to be professional: we need to know our limitations, our resources and our capacities and we need to do what we do well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)