Compromise

Since I have been a young kid, I have been told of the importance of choosing the right friends and surrounding myself with good people. I find myself telling my daughter these very same things on a regular basis. I recently started thinking how this should still apply to us as adults, in every aspect of life. It's easy to choose good people to vacation with, or invite over to dinner, but the real complication can come with how you might associate yourself with someone in the workplace with entirely different values than you. After all, an employer with bad ethics and immoral behavior is still cutting a good check, right?

Now I know at this point in time, jobs can be sparse, and we would be more than willing to work with and for people that might not be the best influences on us. But, I want to encourage all of us to keep our standards high, and to be an example of honesty and a strong work ethic for anyone and everyone we work with. If we find ourselves in a position where we are surrounded by people with whom we do not see "eye to eye" on significant moral issues, or can be detrimental to our values, then we need to make it a point to keep our job relationships very objective-based.

I believe this type of economy is a place where many standards can and are being compromised and justified. Let's pull ourselves out of this recession the right way. Our country needs a foundational fix, not a slick fix for a quick buck. We need moral leaders, even if it takes a bit longer doing it the right way.