Sunday story...Won't you do Right?

Sunday Story…Won’t you do right?

Everybody wants to do the right thing. No one wants to do the wrong thing. But it seems there is little reward for doing the right thing. We even have all these little sayings about it…”no good deed goes unpunished” is one that comes to mind. What??? Who decided that one? We have all heard it but do you really think it to be true? And if so, why would any of us do a good deed? I mean I may choose a certain amount of abnegation in my life but I am not sure I really want to be punished for doing nice things.

Recently a very good friend was lamenting the fact that she seems to be doing the “right” things yet she keeps getting handed the short end of the stick. Actually she said she keeps getting screwed every time she does what she thinks is the “right” thing. We all have heard of whistle blowers who end up fired or ostracized or even worse after they tell the world about some wrong doing. How in the world does this work out? I mean shouldn’t I be rewarded by doing the “right“ thing?

Weeeeelll, yes you should be rewarded. But why are you doing the right thing you are doing? Are you doing it for the reward? Are you doing the right thing because you think it’s the right thing and it’s easier/better/safer than doing any other thing? Are you staking out some kind of moral campsite where you get to hold yourself up as some sort of saint or martyr that we will all kneel at your lotus feet in wonder at your virtuous stands?

Then again, who decided the thing you are doing is, in fact, the right thing? Are there some moral absolutes that will always be right (or wrong)? Maybe you are the arbiter of all things moral…the right/wrong decider. Then you get to tell the rest of us when we are off track or that we should be doing some other thing that would more closely approximate the right thing. Or maybe your moral compass is decided by someone else…some big organization or some Grand Poobah who has the “right“ lineage and is transmitting the “right” wisdom from some moral high ground (which none of us regular people could ever hope to understand.)

Let’s be honest here…we all know what the right thing is most of the time. And most of us are doing the right thing most of the time. What about in the face of pain and suffering? What about in the face of no reward? What about when we know that the right thing is going to cost us dearly…our job, our love, the respect of others? What then? Are you willing to do the right thing because it is the right thing? Not for reward, not for taking the moral high ground, but because it is very simply the RIGHT thing to do. Are you willing to be stoned, crucified, ridiculed, ruined and laughed at because you did the right thing? There is no crown in heaven waiting for you. There is no karmic retribution that is going to take place striking down the evil doers and finger pointers. No, you may be alone in the wilderness struggling with your own conscience wondering why you got punished for doing the right thing.

Wait…maybe you won’t have to wonder about that punishment. Maybe doing the right thing is a reward in and of itself. Maybe, just maybe, your heart will tell you what the right thing is to do, not some high and mighty. And maybe when you do the right thing your heart will sing with the courage you just had. Folks this is not brain surgery. But many of us have had our moral compass removed through the slings and arrows life has been throwing at us. We have become jaded and cynical…”no good deed goes unpunished”…not in my world, not on my watch. I celebrate you doing the right thing…standing against injustice, defending the weak, the poor, and the disenfranchised. I celebrate you when you decide you are worth the effort it may take to stand up and be counted as a person of character and ethics, not just some caricature spewing platitudes about truth, justice and the American way.

Courage is often defined as facing your fear and going ahead anyway….Are you afraid of doing the right thing? Does your heart tell you it is the right thing? Have you really explored all the options? Completely, honestly and openly explored all the other choices to make sure you are on the path of harmony and balance? If so then go ahead and jump. Do the right thing. Just do it.

Namaste

John “Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”

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