Thursday, January 8, 2009

Not passing the Buck: A Golden Virtue?

"That's what I like about you. You don't try to run away after you've done something," said Mr. Larsen, our Technology Class teacher at Dewitt Middle School, Ithaca, N. York. He said this to me in the presence of the other Grade 6 kids.

I was totally unprepared for the reaction - I really thought that I would 'get it' this time. The crime? Well those hack-saws with the flimsy blade break off very easily. Tech 101 is one of those classes where they teach you woodwork, metal sheet bending, how to do copper tooling, make cookie cutters, solder, drill stuff, make rockets (yep model rockets that actually fly) and even how to handle a blow-torch! It was a really cool class - I savoured the third or fourth periods when I had the classes twice a week.

Back to the saw- well the blade snapped off after trying to negotiate a curve while cutting a block of wood for a fish-shaped cutting board, if memory serves me. I left the saw in the tool box. When Mr. Larsen came in he asked: "who broke this?"

Every kid was looking at me, all quiet. Maybe they were afraid that one of them would take the fall. No one needed to. I raised my hand. Mr. Larsen smiled and said those words that I still remember today. Instantly, I knew I had done the right thing.

"These snap off quite easily - if you're not careful," Mr. Larsen said while he took out a brand new blade and replaced the blade. No fuss about it. This is where I learnt a lesson; a noble one which no school or university for that matter could teach you: fess up to your doing- don't pass the buck.

It was quite sometime ago; back in 1985-86 to be exact when my parents were in the States. My dad was finishing up his PhD. in Communications and Liberal Arts (whatever that is) in record time at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

Similarly when I was in Standard 3 or 4, back in Serdang, Selangor I had another prior episode- but it didn't sink into me why I actually did it. We were told to keep quiet in class one day. I had to speak to my best buddy in class. We got into trouble and were told to stand on the desk. What did I do? I said that my buddy didn't talk to me - it was me that disturbed him. It was me that talked to him. Probably surprised, the female teacher (can't remember her name) took a few seconds to digest and told my buddy to sit down. They must have all thought I was weird. But I guess it's an ingrained feature seared into my fibres. I knew to let someone else suffer from my wrongdoing was morally wrong - karma and spiritually aside.

The point? Well if I can figure something like this out when I was still a kid, why do people that I see today, can't seem to figure this out? I see people and bosses that wash their hands completely and passing the blame, monkey, buck or whatever name you want to call it, to an underling. This is how they survive and progress in their career.

IT IS SICKENING. Especially when certain people profess to be of strong religious or moral character/fibre. A senior management person I know does this 'tai-chi' stunt often enough to bolster his position by not taking the blame and passing the buck. This management style, is no style at all- it is a cancerous growth that starts with a malingering git and destroys an organisation from within. Auta-betul!