Do The Right Thing

Sometimes the right thing to do is easy and obvious. Hold the door for an old person with a cane, give up your seat on the train for someone with a kid, show up to work on time, take out the trash, what have you. Other times it can be more elusive, more complicated. Taking responsibility for your action while still advocating for yourself, making compromises or not making compromises, standing up for yourself, letting something slide, taking into consideration the wants/needs/desires of friends/family/employers, not sacrificing your wants/needs/desires in the service of people-pleasing. It can be murky.

But even on the small scale it can be difficult. We may be exhausted, irritable, myopic, unwilling or unable to give of ourselves for even the most basic kindness on any given day. And that's OK. Some days are good and some days are bad. What we can do is do our best on any given day and realize that that won't always look the same.

Some days the right thing will be a missed opportunity, something we just overlooked. Some days it will pass us by because, in that moment, we were incapable of taking action. Some days will be all success and triumph. We will lay our heads on our pillows at night with a sigh of satisfaction and a sense of unbridled fulfillment. Some days we won't even notice that we are doing the right thing, we simply will be. Some days we will endeavor greatly to do the right thing, to be honest and true and things will get all mixed up and we'll be left feeling like emotional hamburger, all twisted up and pounded out and spent. Some days will be a struggle and in trying to do the right thing we may end up doing the wrong thing. Some days we'll be confronted with deceit or pain and the path may be unclear. Some days require action, others stillness. Some days require talk, others listening. Some days require confrontation, others quiet acceptance.

Morality can seem, at times, so abstract it is not applicable. But some simple practices may provide definition for the theoretical. Pause. When confronted with a person or situation pause before reacting. Investigate your feelings and think through your response. Talk. Consult with friends and loved ones when you're in need of direction. By taking in the input, suggestions, and perspective of others we gain clarity. Pray. Or meditate. Cultivating an internal calm will pay dividends in the external.

In this our modern age of irony the idea of being a good person seems quaint, uncool. But given the current climate of socio-political upheaval, of dissent and protest and injustice, now more than ever we should aspire to do the right thing. To breathe meaning into cliched words like hope, courage, and tolerance. To forsake internet rhetoric for real world empathy. To try, to attempt, to do the right thing. To be ruled more by principle than knee-jerk reaction. To seek understanding rather than being understood. To seek to love rather than be loved. And to always do the right thing.