The Contradiction between being honest and moral vs. being successful Jesse A.

Lineberger Thomas Edison State College PHI !"# $L

The Contradiction between being honest and moral vs. being successful %ithin this &a&er' I e(&ect to show the distinct division between honest) and moralit) vs. being successful. $ne can assume that most &arents would relish in the fact that' one da)' their sons or daughters would grow u& to be honest' moral and successful. How is it &ossible' to foster all * +ualities, Can someone trul) advance to the &innacle of social success b) being both honest and moral, -id the CE$.s of T)co and Enron' achieve their success b) being honest and moral, %as /artha Stewarts. insider trading ti&s' honest and moral, Is it &ossible to e(ist in toda).s societ)' while choosing the hard right over the eas) wrong and achieving success,

0irst lest define' what honest) is' what moral is and what success is. In m) o&inion' honest) is being integral' lo)al' forthright' truthful' fair and genuine. I have alwa)s believed that being moral meant' living b) a code of treating others as though I wanted to be treated. 1rowing u& in a Christian household' I +uic2l) reali3ed that one could be moral with out being threatened with hol) damnation. Success is a relative conce&t. There is no one' all encom&assing definition of success. Success is accom&lishing something that one wants to do and has set out to accom&lish it.

There are several answers to this +uestion and I would assume that most would be similar. I to)ed with the +uestion' &resented in the te(t' Ethic in America' whether or not to give u& the son who cheated on the SAT. I &ut m)self in the shoes of the &arents. As de&lorable and des&icable as it ma) be' I would not give m) son u&' more so for the retribution that lie ahead from the authorities. 4$nus Probandi.' the burden of &roof lie with the &rosecution in this regard5 and as &arents' we have a moral obligation to our children. The conse+uences of those actions could severel) affect his future and his &otential for success. The damage has alread) been done and irreversible. The action would not be without conse+uence however. It is u& to the &arents to decide the &unishment. 0or that matter' there would definitel) be a contradiction for us as &arents to want our children to be successful while being honest and moral. %e as &arents would ho&e to instill a sense of moralit) and a sense of honest) within our children. 6ut &lan for the worst and ho&e for the best. Children are going to emulate their &arents' to some degree. If children or )oung adults see their &arent cheating on their ta(es' it.s not going to be within their moral fiber not to cheat themselves. %e are in a dog eat dog world' -arwin.s theor)' 4Survival of the fittest.' e(isted on the &remise that natures organisms who were better suited for that environment would have more of a chance for survival. This holds true for almost ever) as&ect of our e(istence' when an athlete conditions himself for a &articular s&orting event' when a student studies for an e(am' when a businessman &re&ares for a &articular business venture. All of which have to do with conditioning' none of which have an)thing to do with morals and honest). %e see this ever)da) in &rofessional s&orts'

while athletes do ever)thing that the) &ossibl) can to get an edge over other com&etitors5 to achieve that success. As for /a7or League 6aseball and the do&ing controvers)' the burden of &roof again is on /a7or League 6aseball. Success is a relative term and for man)' the bending of the truth to get to that success is &art of the &rocess. Several )ears ago' it was common &lace in the militar) for soldiers to share corres&ondence course answers. I did it. %as it right, 8o it was not. However' it was so common' that the answers to the corres&ondence courses could be found in the filling cabinet in m) com&an) area. This was a &rinci&le &rocess in which )oung soldiers had to ta2e to get &romoted. The term 4if )ou ain.t cheatin )ou ain.t tr)ing. was echoed throughout. This was a road to success. Having been in the militar) for almost 9: )ears now' this is definitel) not a &roud &art of m) militar) heritage' but it was a commonalit) among soldiers. As leaders' what we were teaching soldiers was to basicall) accom&lish the mission b) an) means necessar)' even if that meant cheating. %hile at the same time' we &reached the Arm) ;alues of' Lo)alt)' -ut)' <es&ect' Selfless Service' Honor' Integrit) and Personal Courage. Co&)ing ones corres&ondence courses toda) is &unished under the =niform Code of /ilitar) Justice. Societ) as a whole is not &redicated on the Ten Commandments and success is not measured b) one )ard stic2. Honest)' morals and success are not s)non)mous with one another. The beliefs and norms of one &erson ma) differ significantl) from culture' to societ) to famil). /oralit) is not an even &la)ing field' it is sub7ective and ever)thing has its own weight. Success will be achieved without

honor' but we must alwa)s strive to instill that sense of honest) and moralit) in our children.

9. Is there a contradiction between our demand that our children be honest and moral &ersons and our demand that the) be successful, Present the argument that there is a contradiction' and see if )ou can answer it.