Integrity over Solvency?

Or..."Should you put ethics before economics?"

I did something the other day that I may live to regret. But if I do live to regret it, it will only be because I've run out of milk and I can't afford to buy another carton, or the electricity might be cut off because I didn't pay the bill. And, even then I'll only be broke and hungry.

What I actually did doesn't really need to be repeated here right now - but the consequences are that I will have to forgo a significant amount of income, until the income stream that I lost (or gave up - depending on your point of view) is replaced.

What I felt I did, generally, was stand up for a principle. The principle (or at least my principle) is that counselling should be carried by people who are committed to it, who have ethical and moral values that they live up to and who have the best interests of their clients at heart. Now, we can all say that, can't we? In fact, if there is anyone who reads this who doesn't say that, then they are already on the wrong website - but are at least being honest with themselves.

I gave up a "nice little earner" - as a UK TV show used to say - because I felt that a small minority of the people I was dealing with were not being honest with themselves about their personal commitment to counselling. Those people put their bank balances and their personal lives before their client. This resulted, directly and indirectly, in extremely distressed and vulnerable clients being neglected, overlooked and not managed appropriately.

When the time came to "blow the whistle" I found myself on the end of a firmly closed rank, and very much the "person in the wrong" (it's a long story - and no doubt, one with several sides to it).

When I think about "did I do the right thing", I don't think about my bank balance, or my personal life. I think "who did I let down" by not staying in a situation that was (in view) toxic and which seems to have no hope of immediate recovery. That genuinely is a source of regret and there are some good people out there that I won't be working with any longer.

But, as self-righteous as it sounds, I feel that there are some situations that are so wrong, that to even try and defend onself against them is wrong in itself.

Grouch Marx said..."I wouldn't join any club that would have me as a member".

That's fair enough and, sometimes, for the sake of doing the right thing, I feel that I have to leave one. I hope those I left behind feel that is fair enough, too.