Doing the right thing

Many years ago, I had a moment of actual wisdom. I was relatively new to my job as a General Surgeon and I had a nurse who was very capable. I admit that I sometimes did not have a ready answer to some of the questions she asked, mostly because I was new to private practice and just didn’t know. But, my answer was usually the same, “do the right thing”. After a week or two of this, she one day asked “so, how do I know what the right thing to do is?”. Huh. Excellent question and one that caught me off gaurd. But, being a surgeon (often wrong, never in doubt) I switfly replied one of the wisest things I’ve ever said:

When you consider the available alternatives, there is usually one option that stands out as being more work than the others. Pick that option; it’s the right thing to do.

I have found, in the many years since, that this is still a remarkably insightful observation. I nievely assumed that most people want to do the right thing most of the time and, for the first 50 years or so of my life it kind of seemed that way. But the last 4 years have shown me the complete error of my thinking. Clearly, there are large swaths of very influential people who have no desire to do the right thing. No desire to do anything that doesn’t enrich themselves or improve their condition. No ability to do anything requiring the actual work of doing the right thing. The lying, cheating, undermining, and evil doings of President Trump and his administration appear to be unending.

The Vanity Fair piece on Jared Kushner not formulating a Federal COVID-19 plan because he (erroneously) thought it would effect “blue” states. I can’t believe that I actually have to say this, but even if a voter (exercising his Constitutionally provided right to vote) did not vote for Trump (and, of course, over half of us did not), he is still required to use his office to protect us. Obviously, it’s the right thing to do.

We have Bill Barr coordinating Federal troops (illegally, I might add) to crack down on protests. Clearly not the right thing to do.

And our new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy hobbling the US Postal Service with less than 90 days until an election that will rely upon mail in votes more than any preceding election due, in large part, to the non-existent Federal guidance to the COVID pandemic. How could this possibly be the right thing to do?

Now all of us have to do the right thing and get this clown out of office so he can be rightfully prosecuted for his crimes against the United States and his genocide. Only if WE do the right thing will we hope to ever get some closure on this dark chapter.