?Continuation of feature address delivered by Dr Elizabeth Nunez at the St Joseph's Convent, PoS, Past Pupils' Association Hall of Excellence Induction Ceremony on Oct 20.
?Some years later, as I was studying Machiavelli's The Prince in graduate school, I was consumed again with this question of whether it was possible to achieve positions of excellence and high prestige without compromising one's code of ethics. Machiavelli's answer is sometimes condensed in this simple statement: the end justifies the means. In other words, so long as I achieve my goal, whether that goal is to achieve academic excellence, professional excellence at the workplace, political power or money, it does not matter what means I use. What matters is that I achieved my goal. Not long ago, the world witnessed the funeral for Senator Edward M Kennedy. Over the days leading up to his burial, most TV stations in the US ran stories about his past. One of the stories struck me. It was the story about the young Ted Kennedy at 18 or 19 years old in his first year at Harvard University. His father wanted him to play on the football team, but to do so Kennedy had to pass all his courses.
He knew he was failing in Spanish, so he arranged for a friend to take his Spanish exam for him. His friend was caught and both Kennedy and his friend were suspended for two years. Here is one way to look at this incident: Kennedy was caught cheating and he paid the price. But suppose he had not been caught. He still would have been guilty of cheating, but because he had cheated, he would have been on his way to achieving excellence, not only in sports but also in his academic work. In that case, compromising his ethical values would have led to success. Kennedy also made some other unethical choices in his life; we hear in his letter to the Pope his confession that he was "an imperfect man." I believe that many of us found the story of his life compelling, because we saw in the end a man who atoned for his unethical decisions, who seemed to say that success in any field, in any arena, can only be achieved if it is yoked to ethics, yoked to choosing the morally good over evil. It was one thing, however, to study Machiavelli's The Prince as a graduate student, and quite another to teach it to students. My students wanted to know from me whether I agreed that the end justifies the means. They believed that it was impossible for anyone to reach the top of their career without lying, cheating or committing acts that we would generally consider unethical. That is the way the world worked, they said.
They gave me many examples of people shot down the ladder of success because they were not willing to make the unethical choice. They pointed to leaders, professional people, rich, successful people lauded for achieving excellence in their fields who had all got there by their willingness to bend the truth, to look the other way when they saw the wrong thing done, people who willingly participated in corruption and were rewarded for it. My African American students pointed to Malcolm X. They wanted to know if I didn't think that Malcolm X was right when he said that he would fight for the civil rights of black Americans using "any means necessary." For many that meant even if those means included violence, even if some people had to die, the achievement of civil rights for African Americans and the end of the injustice of segregation would be worth that cost. What about you, professor? my students asked. What would you do? What would you do if you were offered the opportunity to reach the top of your career but had to do some things that you would consider unethical? My answer to them was, and is, that I have had those opportunities and had occasion to be confronted by those choices, but my father's example has always remained my guide.
So you will give up the chance to get the top job in your career? my students pressed me further.
I knew what they were asking. Yes, I said, it is hard to know that you can do a certain job but are not given the opportunity to do it; it is hard to see people less accomplished than you are climb up the ladder. It is hard to be passed over, but, ultimately, the rewards of being at peace with oneself, of knowing that you were not willing to do wrong, far exceed the rewards that money or a top job can give you. I don't know if you recall in Shakespeare's Hamlet Claudius' prayer for forgiveness. Claudius, as you will recall, at this point is King of Denmark. By worldly measures, he has achieved the pinnacle of success, but he has achieved this success by his willingness to commit an immoral act, namely to murder his brother, the previous king. Claudius reflects on his success: he rules the kingdom; he has married the queen; he has achieved his worldly ambition. Now, he worries that the gates of Heaven may be closed to him. He says: In the corrupted currents of this world Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice, And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself. Buys out the law: but 'tis not so above;
There is no shuffling, there the action lies. In his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd, Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence. When I discuss this passage with my students, I often ask them to reflect on the lines:
In the corrupted currents of this world
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice,
And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law
I want them to understand what Shakespeare is saying here. He is acknowledging that in this world one is often rewarded for one's unethical acts. In other words, what he says here is not much different from what Machiavelli says, that is, that corruption often leads to material success, and also to more corruption. One commits an immoral act that brings one benefit, and the benefit itself is what helps one to avoid paying the price for one's immoral deeds. For you can use that benefit (either the money gained or the power gained) to persuade the law and the public to turn a blind eye to the wrong you have done.
�2 Cont'd tomorrow
�2 Elizabeth Nunez, PhD, is a City University of New York Distinguished Professor and an award-winning author of seven novels, including Anna In-Between (New York Times Editors' Choice September 2009), Prospero's Daughter (New York Times Editors' Choice; 2006 Novel of the Year, Black Issues Book Review) and Bruised Hibiscus (American Book Award). She is co-editor with Jennifer Sparrow of the anthology Stories from Blue Latitudes: Caribbean Women Writers at Home and Abroad. Nunez is executive producer of the 2004 NY Emmy-nominated CUNY TV series Black Writers in America. She divides her time between Amityville, New York and Brooklyn.
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