JustAdvice

These days author­ity can be a lit­tle wobbly–like Jell-O.  It has a basic form, but when the foun­da­tion is shaken, it bounces all over the place.  It seems to me that, in a cri­sis, many deci­sions are now based on what will upset the fewest num­ber of peo­ple, or on what is least likely to be over­ruled.  Good lead­er­ship is sup­posed to do what is right, regard­less of what some­one else may later think, say or do.

I remem­ber what was, for me, the first hint of “uncer­tainty” from supe­ri­ors on the job.  We had removed a baby from a home because of seri­ous neglect.  The par­ents were nowhere to be found at the moment, and the child was mal­nour­ished, with a case of dia­per rash that rivaled some  jun­gle rot I saw in Viet­nam.  When it came to pros­e­cut­ing the par­ents, how­ever, a supe­rior hinted that we had to be care­ful, because we had no right to impose our per­sonal stan­dards on others.

I was dumb­founded.  I under­stand per­sonal free­dom and indi­vid­ual styles of life, but it had never occurred to me that pro­vid­ing basic care to one’s own child could be a mat­ter of per­sonal choice.  I found the com­ment very con­fus­ing, and when author­i­ties are con­fused, they tend to be erratic in their conduct.

It’s hard to respect some­thing that exists more in the­ory than in prac­tice.  If I am to respect the law, it must be less like shift­ing sand and more like a rock on which I can firmly plant my posi­tion.  If I am to respect a superior’s advice, it must not always be deliv­ered with a dis­claimer, nor be watered down in its con­tent and blown about by the winds of fear, par­tic­u­larly where law­suits are concerned. 

I am not sug­gest­ing fas­cism.  I want all author­ity  to be just, and as a free cit­i­zen I expect to have a part in its design.  I do not, how­ever, want the rules and their enforce­ment to be so diluted that they are gen­er­ally weak and actu­ally fos­ter social break­down.  If we are to respect our par­ents, bosses and other  lead­ers, they must gov­ern from strength and under­stand­ing, not weak­ness.  That strength comes from know­ing what is right and hav­ing the courage to stick to it.