Accountability.
That’s what seems to be missing today.
Sometimes it takes the form of owning up to a flub at work – (and I’ve had my fair share) – or confessing to cheating on an exam, or publicly acknowledging that members of an organization held up as role models in society have gone astray.
Why, for example, did it have to take an act of litigation to compel the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to reveal that scoutmasters entrusted with the lives of youths betrayed that trust by preying on those in their care?
And why, in some cases, did BSA bureaucrats apparently ignore the warnings of colleagues and permit the alleged abuse to continue?
This pattern of deceit and cover-up is, sad to say, nothing new in a world that seems to feed on corruption in the body politic, religious spheres, sporting life and just about everywhere we turn.
Banks, once careful custodians of the nation’s cash, have extracted our money with big interest owed on their credit cards while blithely having handed out sub-prime mortgages based on flimsy collateral. Now all of us are paying the bills and financial bigwigs are pocketing bonuses, as usual.
When I was still in grammar school, I remember promises being made about America going to the moon and riding in electric cars. Well, we made it to the moon but we’re still grounded by gas-guzzling vehicles after GM sold out to the petrochemical industry.
Just once, can somebody be straight with us?
If you promise to do something and you don’t do it, can you at least admit it and explain what you intend to do about it?
Or is that too much to ask in a Presidential election year?
– Ron Leir
