Impartiality

"More good would follow from teaching one’s beliefs than from hiding where one stand in the name of impartiality”  R. Druska

Lately my friends most probably noticed a post on my Facebook page that I am buried under Business Ethics studies. I should admit I was very skeptical about this subject. I thought that ethics is not really a subject for studies, as everyone can make a difference what is good and what is wrong. And when I saw the immense list of required reading I was not happier, but one article made me change my mind. I finally found an answer to one of the questions bothering me lately.

Don’t judge. Isn't something we say to the others and ourselves? Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Isn't something we believe in? Indeed, we believe truly and deeply. Ronald Druska attributes these expressions to the relativism, which holds that every group has its own set of moral beliefs that are true for this group. We know it. But would you agree with this?

“Relativism became a prevailing attitude, a skeptical attitude in a pluralistic, tolerant society, where there are two or more sides to every story, requires that every side be presented because every side has its own truth. In presence of such an attitude, the only acceptable approach is the detached, non-committal approach. The relativism involves moral isolationism”. R. Druska

Tough words, aren't they? But when I read it, I got the same elevating feeling like Archimedes, when he stepped into his bath and proclaimed “Eureka”. Lately I have noticed that people, whom I know or meet, are very cautious in their thoughts, choices and attitudes. When they express their thoughts, they are deprived of personal statement and served in neutral colors  The prevailing logic rules: “Not taking “sides” results in absence of side effects”. When one needs to take a decision, he/she prefers to stay aside. When one has to stand up, he/she rather disappears elegantly in a corner. And here is the paradox. More you try to please everyone, more isolated you get, as you are surrounded by the same type of non committal individuals. But is this group reliable? Loyalty is another tough word and the corner stone of reliable relations. Loyalty is about commitment, but not unconditional one. There is a difference between the “right decision” and the decision made in the right way. The latter one is made with good judgement and sensitivity.

Why I needed to share it? Sometimes when you are in a room with another 200 people, you have the same feeling like in a tagline of the famous movie “Face/Off” (1997): “It’s like looking in the mirror – only not”. You might recognize the same impartial behavior among people you call your friends. The same skeptical attitude prevails in hundreds of faces and a rare glimpse of self-consciousness sparks among these clouds. And I want to catch that glimpse, because I believe that these people have more potential and chances of doing things in the right way and I know that they will take responsibility for the consequences that their actions would cause.