Heroes

Stand up and be counted.

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I grew up learning that it was our job; it was our responsibility to pitch in, to make sure that everyone was treated equally.  I’m fairly sure it was related to religious reasons- plus the special circumstances of the Holocaust (also involving religion- but more about subject hatred).  Never once did I hear that doing this made me a hero- or anyone else who was involved in such efforts.

Nor was I taught that scientists and engineers who invented great things were heroic.  Whether it was the discovery of penicillin, the concept of bacterial infection, open heart surgery, etc.  This was what was expected for those folks who worked in that area.

But, that still didn’t stop me from thinking that Leonardo Da Vinci, Martin Luther King, Dr. Paul Ehrlich, among others were my heroes.  So, I studied what they did and how they did it- and used their lives to help me mold my rules for life.

Heroes

This process also set my concept who is a scoundrel.  Folks like the Governor of Michigan and his environmental (sic) staff that allowed a generation of poor Flint children to become brain damaged.  Or Judge (sic) Roy Blount of Alabama who believes that he has a direct line to (his) god (yes, that is lower case on purpose) and that he can change the rules of the land to match his prejudices.

Of course, there are more.  Some of whom were (and still are) running for President of the United States.

But, the problem is that our system is engendering more of such individuals to be considered “prominent”.  We no longer fund infrastructure.  We no longer fund science and engineering studies.   Given these “shortages”, people – perhaps honorable people with great intentions- fall prey to the need to get “some” for themselves.  We don’t reward folks for doing what is right- we promote them for advancing the “cause” of the agency who employs them, or the “Senate”,  or the “House”- but not the people of the United States or, as it seems right now, the people of Brazil.

That may even be what happened in Flint.  The pressure to win elections, the pressure to stay in a position of power was more important than the lives of the children in Flint.

It seems to have happened to an agency that was one of my heroes when I was younger, too.  The National Institutes of Health.  Where the “need” to promote research and results took precedence of the “requirement” to protect patients.

That one really hurts.  Because I have two religions.  One is Judaism, which requires me to make this world a better place, each and every day.  The other is science, which wants me to develop new and better ideas to advance the cause.  In essence, science is a form of my religion, where we try each and every day to make the world a better place with our knowledge and inventions.

And, now I see science has failed in the NIH.  Just as I saw science was failing when I was at MIT, where a boatload of effort (and money) was devoted to Lincoln Labs.  These laboratories were part and parcel (a very, very, very large part and parcel) of the military-industrial complex.  One which many of us thought had no place on a university campus.  Unfortunately, we didn’t terminate the effort.  Instead, it was spun off, moved, to become MITRE.  (How many of you never knew that stood for MIT Research and Engineering.)

Of course, this failure was nowhere near what was done in Germany, where Hitler subverted medicine and technology to kill every Jewish man, woman, and child he could find. Where Fritz Haber- the man who made agribusiness possible with his ammonia production development scheme- invented Zyklon B.  Where Daimler Benz perfected (yes, this is nauseating) a method to kill many Jews quickly, without wasting bullets that were needed for the war effort.

No, we need to teach our children and our leaders that doing right is hard.  If it weren’t hard, then everyone would be doing it.  We need to teach our employees that it is critical to make great products, to perform great service- because our customers and our citizens deserve it.

Good & Evil Solzhenitsyn

So, that folks who develop something new, something of value to the world, and reap rewards for their efforts.  Not by bankrupting their customers (Valeant Pharmaceuticals comes to mind- but we can add Sovaldi and Gilead Sciences to this trash heap), but by pricing the drug accordingly.

(Don’t b…s… me about how much money was spent on R&D developing these drugs.  I’m not saying that it didn’t take money- but there’s a vast difference between marketing money and scientific development.  Maybe not the way these firms report it to you, but there is.  And, the fact is the drug cost itself is negligible (compared to the price charged).  Making the therapy cost $30K instead of $ 100K will still make these firms profitable.  And, would probably let more folks get the drugs- since insurance companies won’t blacklist the lesser priced treatment.  (That price also approximates the cost for hospitalizing the patients.)]

We need to have folks understand that doing what is right often takes great courage, gut-wrenching decisions, “putting oneself out there”…

And, those honor codes… Really?  Do you think folks never cheated at MIT or UVa?  Even though they promised to follow the honor code?  Trust me.  It might have kept many of the students on the straight and narrow, but there were plenty of deviants.  Because honor is internal, it’s what we do, it’s not what we say.  One of my favorite quotes is from Stephen Covey:

 Honesty is making your words conform to reality.

Integrity is making reality conform to your words.

It’s this sort of thinking it took to help Black folks get the vote in the South.  It’s what it took those few Righteous Gentiles to save Jews during the Holocaust. It’s what our statesmen used to consider – and maintain- when they became our various countries’ leaders.

It’s what we all need now in our leaders.  For our countries.  For our businesses.  For our world.

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7 thoughts on “Stand up and be counted.”

  1. Wonderful, wonderful post. I particularly love the quote about honesty and integrity, and your point that doing the right thing is hard, but not heroic. Remember Al Kapp, cartoonist of Li’l Abner? His characters frequently told one another, “What do you want for doing what you ought to do, a medal?” Love your blog!
    Marian Allen recently posted..Perfect #amwriting #SciFi @StoryADayMay 18

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