Reputation

According to TechCrunch, it’s time for the moral and responsible people of the world to just “get over” the indiscretions of others. Really? There’s no point in trying to be a “good person” any more? Let’s put that to a thought experiment…

Say that there’s a couple of people who have taken great personal financial risk to start a business. Let’s say that, for many years, they made do with less in their personal lives for the sake of this company. Let’s say that they have worked hard to build the company into something that can sustain itself, diversified into other fields, and invested in people in order to promote long-term growth. OK? With me so far? Good. So, are you saying that this person should just overlook a public profile on Facebook or Twitter that reveals that a potential new hire — or even a new business account — is a complete flake? What if these things reveal that this person obviously has major dysfunction in their personal life, or show they complain about and make trouble for all of their authority figures? (And we all have authorities in our lives, even those above us.)

Put yourself in the shoes of the employer. Would you waste time and money by knowingly hiring someone who clearly is going to have problems being responsible and getting along with others? Would you work with vendors or suppliers that clearly had issues with being honest?

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Back to the point of the article, which, I presume was meant to apply to the Olympic athlete pictured. The problem here is that, by everything I read, Olympic athletes are just normal people who are good at some sport. Despite the fact that I have little respect for “sport” in general, there are those who live a clean and responsible life, and there are those who don’t. Just like in every other field on the face of the earth. There’s nothing sacred about being an Olympic-level athlete. It doesn’t automatically make you moral or ethical. So it seems preposterous to me to lump those who don’t have high personal conduct standards in with those who do for the sake of giving them a pass because they were good enough to win a dozen gold medals.

This life is about more than winning or losing, about succeeding in business or failing, about being famous or dying in obscurity with no friends. This existence is a spiritual journey designed to set one’s course for what comes after. And therein lies the rub. It used to be that the majority of people basically believed that same way. If you don’t — if you think that this is all there is — then, yeah, I can see the point of believing that nothing matters, and that we all ought to “get over” just about any behavior you can point to as a strawman example.

At the end of the day, character matters. Sooner or later, it matters to everyone, even if you don’t think it does. It doesn’t matter if you are the most unprincipled person in the world, you will eventually be done wrong by someone, and you’re going to wish that you had made better choices in who to hang around with. That means someone with — if not good morals — then at least better morals than you’re used to. And this is going to cause you to get a little better. Pretty soon, you’ll be looking for better friends again.

No matter what you think about religion, it’s clear that the Golden Rule is still the single, best ideal by which to live your life and conduct your affairs. The irony for people who believe that religion is the root of the world’s problems is that, by trying to get rid of it entirely, they are the ones trying to create a new “dark age” of morality. The things that the Bible condemns: fornication, idolatry, adultery, being effeminate, abusing yourself with mankind, thieving, coveting, drunkenness, reviling, and extortion (1 Co 6:9-10, among others), lead to a society where no one can trust each other. People have to come to figure out that the basic tenets of living expressed by almost all Judeo-Christian religions is the only way to have a society in which we all want to live.

Ask yourself this: What if everyone on the earth was just like you? Would society still function? Would there be any productive activity? Would you want to be a part of it?