Long ago, in 587 BC, a man stood within the walls of a city that was
being destroyed because it
would not, could not do the right thing. He said with disgust, “From the least to
the greatest, all are greedy for gain.
Fast forward 2,588 years. Has man's basic nature changed?
In 2001, a company
called Enron became enveloped in a scandal that would lead to its demise. The
greed and hubris of the executives was finally made known. The supposed
watchdog, the auditing firm of Arthur Anderson, was also brought low due to
their complicit activity in covering for Enron. In response, a number of laws
were passed in an effort to prevent such behavior in the future. One of these
changes was to require that certified public accountants, who perform the
auditing, undergo proper moral training. It was thought that would prevent what
occurred at Arthur Anderson.
Recently, I attended an all-day seminar covering a variety of
relevant topics - taxes, rule changes, etc. Many were scrambling to complete their eight hours of required "continuing
professional education" before the end of
the year so as not to lose their license to practice. I attended with two
colleagues. After a couple of hours, one leaned over to me and said, "I am
going to step out for a bit. I’ll be back."
The clock ticked and hours went by.
Finally, one hour before the end of the day he reappeared. “Had to make a couple
long phone calls” he said. Interestingly, the final hour subject ? Ethics. The
instructor spoke of right and left turns and of - well - just doing the right
thing. My colleague leaned over toward the end and said, “This is all just
common sense.” The final session ending he picked up his certificate reading, “Eight Hours of Continuing Professional Education Achieved.”
Smiling, he casually walked out of the hall.
“Sin…is written with a pen of iron, and with
the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their
heart.”
Some things never change.
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