Out of the mouths of babes ... and our elders, too.
A few years ago, t-shirts, notebooks and other items with the saying, "Mean people suck", were very popular among the younger people (middle school students). In our grandparents' generation, "mean" was another word for stingy, the opposite of generous.
Of all of the four traditional values, generosity is the one we have discussed the least. With all the talk in the news about the bailouts of banks, huge insurance company AIG getting billions of dollars in government money and then giving $165 million in bonuses to executives - well, greed is out. Greed and selfishness, the flip side of generosity, have always been seen as a bad trait on the reservation.
Joe the Tribal Worker is a fictional character discussed throughout our Introduction to Ethical Issues on Indian Reservations course. When asked whether they would vote for Joe, many respondents agreed with the Spirit Lake woman who wrote:
No because he will not do anything to help people out of their lifestyle or try to make changes for the better for them .... He will end up hurting the tribe because his motives are very selfish.
Like all ethical issues, everyone thinks of him/ herself as the most ethical person in the room. People like to show their generosity by giveaways, feeds. If they are a program director, you can count on them to donate money, supplies or staff time for the community health fair, sobriety ride or Head Start activities. That's generosity, right?
As with most ethical issues, there's more to it. One of the myths we talk about in the courses is the myths of change including, "There's nothing to it," and "Everyone is already doing it."
How does putting your own relatives in jobs fit with generosity? Especially at a time when jobs are even harder to find than usual, isn't that being selfish, no matter how many star quilts you give away?
Another word for giving away is "charity".
The principle of charitable interpretation, is a really good idea from the study of philosophy. Basically, it says that if there are multiple interpretations for a behavior or argument, choose the one that shows the other person in the best possible light. How often do we see people really engage in charitable interpretation on boards, in the work place?
Take this example as one among a million,
Myrna and Donna work for the same program. Myrna is very busy working in the schools, meeting with teachers, the PTA, school board members, counseling students. Donna mostly does the newsletters, data entry and attends staff meetings. One day, their supervisor asks Donna if she can make flyers for the upcoming school open house. Donna is furious, here is her interpretation,
"That Myrna thinks she is better than me just because she has a college degree! Who does she think she is? Why should I do her work for her? I am so busy already, doing the newsletters and filling out the forms and all of the other stuff Myrna is too good to do. Well, I am just not going to do it!"
Here are two other possible interpretations,
"Schools are very impressed by credentials. Myrna didn't make it that way. That's the way it is. To be honest, they listen to her more because she is a former teacher. She is always perfectly polite to me and compliments me on how good the newsletter looks. She really isn't as good as me in using a word processor and I do know the boss is right, I have more time and I would do a better job at it than her."
"Myrna's mom has been really, really sick. I think the stress is getting to her. It is very likely that she is going to have to take some time off to take care of her mother, who probably won't live much longer. The boss is probably trying to cut down her work as much as possible because when her mom dies, which, sad to say, will be soon, Myrna is not going to be here for a while."
I don't know which of the three interpretations is the truth - but, and here is the very important fact - NEITHER DOES DONNA ! I happen to know that Myrna has a sick mother. Perhaps Donna does not, although I rather doubt that, since, as the saying goes, there isn't much to see in a small town but what you hear makes up for it. Everyone knows everyone's business. Even if Donna doesn't, there is still nothing stopping her from interpreting the situation as due to something else in Myrna's life, even if she doesn't happen to know the specifics.
The next time you think of yourself as a generous, ethical person, think about a generosity of spirit, a generosity of opportunity. ARE you the most ethical person in the room? Or are you, sometimes, just a little bit mean?
A few years ago, t-shirts, notebooks and other items with the saying, "Mean people suck", were very popular among the younger people (middle school students). In our grandparents' generation, "mean" was another word for stingy, the opposite of generous.
Of all of the four traditional values, generosity is the one we have discussed the least. With all the talk in the news about the bailouts of banks, huge insurance company AIG getting billions of dollars in government money and then giving $165 million in bonuses to executives - well, greed is out. Greed and selfishness, the flip side of generosity, have always been seen as a bad trait on the reservation.
Joe the Tribal Worker is a fictional character discussed throughout our Introduction to Ethical Issues on Indian Reservations course. When asked whether they would vote for Joe, many respondents agreed with the Spirit Lake woman who wrote:
No because he will not do anything to help people out of their lifestyle or try to make changes for the better for them .... He will end up hurting the tribe because his motives are very selfish.
Like all ethical issues, everyone thinks of him/ herself as the most ethical person in the room. People like to show their generosity by giveaways, feeds. If they are a program director, you can count on them to donate money, supplies or staff time for the community health fair, sobriety ride or Head Start activities. That's generosity, right?
As with most ethical issues, there's more to it. One of the myths we talk about in the courses is the myths of change including, "There's nothing to it," and "Everyone is already doing it."
How does putting your own relatives in jobs fit with generosity? Especially at a time when jobs are even harder to find than usual, isn't that being selfish, no matter how many star quilts you give away?
Another word for giving away is "charity".
The principle of charitable interpretation, is a really good idea from the study of philosophy. Basically, it says that if there are multiple interpretations for a behavior or argument, choose the one that shows the other person in the best possible light. How often do we see people really engage in charitable interpretation on boards, in the work place?
Take this example as one among a million,
Myrna and Donna work for the same program. Myrna is very busy working in the schools, meeting with teachers, the PTA, school board members, counseling students. Donna mostly does the newsletters, data entry and attends staff meetings. One day, their supervisor asks Donna if she can make flyers for the upcoming school open house. Donna is furious, here is her interpretation,
"That Myrna thinks she is better than me just because she has a college degree! Who does she think she is? Why should I do her work for her? I am so busy already, doing the newsletters and filling out the forms and all of the other stuff Myrna is too good to do. Well, I am just not going to do it!"
Here are two other possible interpretations,
"Schools are very impressed by credentials. Myrna didn't make it that way. That's the way it is. To be honest, they listen to her more because she is a former teacher. She is always perfectly polite to me and compliments me on how good the newsletter looks. She really isn't as good as me in using a word processor and I do know the boss is right, I have more time and I would do a better job at it than her."
"Myrna's mom has been really, really sick. I think the stress is getting to her. It is very likely that she is going to have to take some time off to take care of her mother, who probably won't live much longer. The boss is probably trying to cut down her work as much as possible because when her mom dies, which, sad to say, will be soon, Myrna is not going to be here for a while."
I don't know which of the three interpretations is the truth - but, and here is the very important fact - NEITHER DOES DONNA ! I happen to know that Myrna has a sick mother. Perhaps Donna does not, although I rather doubt that, since, as the saying goes, there isn't much to see in a small town but what you hear makes up for it. Everyone knows everyone's business. Even if Donna doesn't, there is still nothing stopping her from interpreting the situation as due to something else in Myrna's life, even if she doesn't happen to know the specifics.
The next time you think of yourself as a generous, ethical person, think about a generosity of spirit, a generosity of opportunity. ARE you the most ethical person in the room? Or are you, sometimes, just a little bit mean?
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