By David Hegg
Even if you are not a sports fan, there is much to learn from the ethics on display during competition. In fact, it is during the most stressful times, when winning and losing are on the line, that the individual’s or team’s actual ethical values come to the surface. Crisis brings out character, and too often it’s not pretty.
Years ago, before the professional football season began, a decision by the regular referees to strike meant the first several games were presided over by replacement referees whose experience and ability left much to be desired. Crucial mistakes were made, leading to victories that will forever be recognized as unearned. Even today, the recap of a game is often not about brilliant plays and clever coaching, but about referees failing to see and call penalties.
Does anyone else see a red flag here? I know this will sound really ignorant, but I want to ask the simple question: Why do we need referees in the first place? Can’t professionals be expected to stay within the rules, and when they don’t, fess up? I can see it now: A player runs the length of the field for an apparent touchdown, but then an offensive lineman sprints up to the opposing captain to confess he broke the rules, nullifying the apparent score.
OK, so this is absurd! After all, professional athletes in the throes of heated competition can’t be expected to act fairly and honestly, right? And the possibility of “getting away with something” only adds to the competitive experience of the game, right? If some player did confess to wrongdoing, we’d all call him an idiot, right? There is no getting around it. Athletic competition requires a referee. This rule-keeper can ensure that competitors’ natural tendency to break the rules doesn’t unfairly determine the contest’s outcome.
This illustration from the world of sport is telling. It demonstrates a tragic principle that has become part of the fabric of our culture: If you can get away with it, then it really isn’t wrong, especially if it helps you win.
Our society has adopted this post-modern standard for ethical behavior. We have traded belief in absolute right and wrong for the pragmatic idea that the only “wrong” is getting caught. Even then, “wrong” can be marginalized and rationalized by arguing that everyone else engages in the same behavior, but just haven’t gotten caught yet. This new definition of integrity is being played out on political and business stages, even as those called to “referee” our national ethics have apparently gone on strike.
Not long ago, I was watching a golf match on TV. I find golf is the perfect Sunday afternoon napping environment. But my slumber was broken when the announcers got excited about an extraordinary occurrence. It wasn’t a great shot or putt. What had them ebullient was the fact that one of the golfers had given himself a penalty stroke for inadvertently replacing his ball an inch from its original lie.
In golf, once the ball is on the green, the player may place a mark where the ball lies, pick up the ball to clean it, and then replace it without penalty. It seems this golfer put the ball mark down, lifted and cleaned the ball, and then placed his ball back to the side of the mark instead of directly in front of it. The difference was an inch or less, but as soon as he placed the ball, he realized his mistake. No one saw it, and no camera caught it. But he knew he had broken the rules of the game. He also knew the integrity of his heart and his love for the game of golf demanded that he announce his culpability.
Of course, I am not suggesting that football be left to self-policing since the stoppage time for video review is just long enough to grab a cold beverage. Neither am I actually writing about the ethics of football. Instead, I’m pointing out the severe erosion of political and professional ethics in our society, especially at the highest levels. Simply put, wrong is wrong, lies are lies, demeaning language and name-calling are unacceptable, and opposing views are not a sufficient reason for a lack of personal virtue and ethical behavior. C’mon, America … quit acting like undisciplined, bratty little kids!
It has long been known, inner compliance is vastly preferable to outer compulsion. That we need laws and those who enforce them is unarguable. But no right-thinking person can deny that our families, neighborhoods, cities and country would be greatly advantaged if our ethics were self-policing. Maybe we should all take up golf, fall in love with the gentlemanly ethos of the game and clean up our own messes instead of seeing how much we can get away with.
Local resident David Hegg is senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church. “Ethically Speaking” appears Sundays.
