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I grew up in a rich family. Not rich in the financial sense, as most people think of the word, but in terms of values and character. When I was growing up, I distinctly remember my parents teaching me the difference between right and wrong. Whether it was making up a story about why my math assignment was a day late or hearing tales of my school friends swiping gum from the corner grocery store, I remember knowing what was acceptable and unacceptable behavior in my parents' eyes.
While growing up, I always had a great amount of respect for my family. Throughout high school and college and later into my professional career, I held the simple notion that I wanted my family and others to respect me as much as I respect them. So today, in making decisions that affect many people, whether in my position as a legislator or in my job in the private sector as a corporate vice president, it has not been all that difficult to make tough decisions concerning ethics. I just ask myself, "What would my family want me to do?" The answer is simple: Do the right thing. As I open the paper and hear allegations of scandal and fraud in business and government, I simply have to wonder why. Insider trading, deceptive accounting practices, and political campaigns benefiting from taxpayer's money, just aren't the right thing. The very idea of this wrongdoing is disheartening to say the least, and you have to wonder what the mom of the person at fault thinks about the way she brought up her child.
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Coming from a humble, small town in central Illinois, I grew up looking at the officials in Illinois government as bigger than life. Working on elections with my grandpa when I was in early grade school, I was exposed to politics at a young age. I was led to believe that those elected to office would shape the future of Illinois, should work hard and do the right thing. Now as an elected official myself, I can actually practice what I was led to believe.
As a business major at Illinois State University, I studied the dynamics of business and the stock market. I understand that there are important decisions an executive must make concerning the company's operations. What I don't understand is how some of the deceptive business decisions are being made today. Stockholders look to corporate leaders to help shape the future of the enterprise in which they have invested trust and money. It is much the same way citizens look to their government officials who are vested with the awesome responsibility to serve and lead. Some people in the corporate world and government circles must be overly influenced by money and power. That must be why the recent bad and wrong decisions have been made. I wish those who made those decisions had grown up in a home where doing the right thing was the only option. For those who will become the future leaders in government or business, and for those who are vested with that trust today, the answer is simple: Do the right thing! |