Self-restraint in the community

Usually I put quotes in the Daily Writer blog, but the following one seemed particularly relevant here in light of this incident reported in the Otago Daily Times today.

A community identifies itself by an understood mutuality of interests. But it lives and acts by the common virtues of trust, goodwill, forbearance, self-restraint, compassion, and forgiveness. If it hopes to continue long as a community, it will wish to--and will have to--encourage respect for all its members, human and natural. Such a community has the power--not invariably but as a rule--to enforce decency without litigation. It has the power, that is, to influence behavior.

Wendell Berry
Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community

Remembering Ethics

In a recent opinion piece in the Otago Daily Times, Ian Harris noted that business schools, particularly in the USA, have been criticised for not doing more to prepare graduates for the ethical challenges of the business world. Now, teachers at Harvard and elsewhere say students are demanding courses on social ethics and responsibility to round out their business studies.

The students are now able (but not obliged) to take an oath along these lines.
The swear to:
• Act with utmost integrity and pursue my work in an ethical manner.
• Safeguard the interests of my shareholders, co-workers, customers and the society in which we operate.
• Manage my enterprise in good faith, guarding against decisions and behaviour that advance my own narrow ambitions but harm the enterprise and the societies it serves.
• Understand and uphold, both in letter and in spirit, the laws and contracts governing my own conduct and that of my enterprise.
• Take responsibility for my actions, and represent the performance and risks of my enterprise accurately and honestly.
• Develop both myself and other managers under my supervision so that the profession continues to grow and contribute to the wellbeing of society.
• Strive to create sustainable economic, social and environmental prosperity worldwide.
• Be accountable to my peers and they will be accountable to me for living by this oath.

See the full opinion piece here.

Jordan Redding

Sometimes the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, on those occasions when it probably should!

On Saturday the 30th August at the Roslyn Presbyterian Church, there was a concert to celebrate the relaese of Malcolm Gordon's new album, “One Voice” and the comeback of Mephymology. Malcolm's song “Te Whiti” can currently be heard on Radio Rhema and Life FM.

The concert also featured the premiere of the music video for “Child Song”, which was written by the young Dunedin man, Jordan Redding. It's been adopted as the theme song for Global Mission. (That's the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand's office called Global Mission. It's situated in Auckland.)

Interestingly enough, Jordan attended Kavanagh College, the Catholic co-ed school in Dunedin, until last year. The reason I heard about him is that he was one of 2008 Otago Daily Times Class Act finalists. This initiative identifies and celebrates the excellence of young people in the province of Otago.

Chinese Good Samaritan

An article appeared in the Otago Daily Times World Focus last Monday about a man who spends a good deal of his free time stopping people from committing suicide on the Nanjing Bridge, which flows over the Yangtze River. So far he has managed to stop some 144 people from jumping to their deaths.

The article says the man's motivation is the feeling of guilt he was left with after an older man who had encouraged him when he was down and out subsequently committed suicide because of troubles he hadn't been able to share.

The full article first appeared in the Los Angeles Times, and can be accessed here.

It's well worth reading for an example of how God works to save lives by a modern day Samaritan, who appears to have no Christian motivation.