The Best We Can Do or the Least We Can Get Away With

It's been almost five years since Chesley Sullenberger landed flight 1549 on the Hudson River. For anyone that has forgotten, Captain Sullenberger, a retired Air Force pilot, saved the lives of all 155 of his passengers when his aircraft lost power shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia airport in New York City. A seasoned professional at the time of the incident, Captain Sullenberger explained how he managed to live up to his responsibilities at the moment of truth: "One way of looking at this might be that for 42 years, I've been making small, regular deposits in this bank of experience, education and training. And on January 15 the balance was sufficient so that I could make a very large withdrawal."

This past summer, our own Billy Teufel helped to save the life of a Boys State colleague. Upon finding a friend having a seizure, and without a pulse, Billy kept his wits about him, knew where the automated external defibrillator was located, and used it to restore the boy's heartbeat. Billy and his fortunate friend are proof that you don't have to be a forty-year veteran to perform up to high standards in a moment of crisis.

The simple rule of doing the best you can do connects Captain Sullenberger and our Billy. Finding themselves in a challenging situation, both took responsibility immediately. Both took strong action in accordance with their training, knowledge and skill. Neither one of them walked away, tried to shift responsibility to others, or made any excuses whatsoever. They were there to do the best they could and nothing less, showing their dedication to high standards: an obvious sign of good character.

What these two did stands out these days, among so many people, and institutions, that do the opposite. Far from seeking to do the best they can, many today are focused on "what is the least we can get away with" as their guiding principle. We've been treated to three weeks of it from the NFL. Both the league and the teams have tested the water again and again - how little can they do about domestic violence and get a pass? How little can they do about child abuse, and get away with it? Is a game suspension for child abuse enough? If not, how about two or three? At least the for-profit NFL admits it's in the business of making money. Colleges like Florida State are doing the same thing with players under investigation for sexual assaults: "Can we get away with a half-game suspension? Okay, how about one game?"

This kind of thinking rots our culture and our character. We need to get away from "what's the least we can get away with," once and for all, and get back to the real question: "what is the best we can do?" That simple choice makes a difference all around us. There's been an unprecedented increase in black lung among our coal miners recently. Changes in mining techniques have been exposing miners to more dangerous dust compositions. Coal dust is the only known cause of this disease.

Two Senators, Jay Rockefeller (West Virginia) and Robert Casey (Pennsylvania), are seeking to address the issue. But while these two leaders are asking what is the best we can do for sick and injured miners, others are ready to take the other side, insisting on staking out the territory of the "least we can get away with." And this is the same year we learned that a crooked doctor had wrongfully denied over a thousand miners their rightful benefits.

We've seen the way corporations profit at the expense of human lives over and over again. Whether it's the toleration of violence and abuse in pursuit of football glory and money, or undercutting the health of working men and women with poor safety in the mines to squeeze extra dollars from coal, the principle is the same. We are constantly choosing the standards we want for our society. Captain Sullenberger's actions - as you would expect from an Air Force man - pointed us in the right direction: We need to aim higher. Billy Teufel got the message, will we?

 

It's been almost five years since Chesley Sullenberger landed flight 1549 on the Hudson River. For anyone that has forgotten, Captain Sullenberger, a retired Air Force pilot, saved the lives of all 155 of his passengers when his aircraft lost power shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia airport in New York City. A seasoned professional at the time of the incident, Captain Sullenberger explained how he managed to live up to his responsibilities at the moment of truth: "One way of looking at this might be that for 42 years, I've been making small, regular deposits in this bank of experience, education and training. And on January 15 the balance was sufficient so that I could make a very large withdrawal."