Early in 1995 I was working for a motivational speaker who needed a talk on ethics. I had just finished writing a magazine article on the creation of the Lone Ranger and, in the course of the article, revealed that the character had been created around a set of ethical values in order to teach young radio listeners the importance...

In my book, What Do You Stand For?, holocaust survivor Judy Meisel writes, “The statement, ‘What can I do, I’m only one person?’ upsets me. One person can do a lot!” That phrase came to mind while I was reading a paper from one of my New Hampshire students. “I have done some good things for people, but I have done more...

Last Wednesday, President Obama spoke in words elegiac at the memorial for the shooting victims in Tucson, Arizona.  Four days later, John McCain wrote a great op-ed that appeared in The Washington Post. “President Obama gave a terrific speech Wednesday night,” the Republican Senator wrote. “He encouraged every American who participates in our political debates – whether we are on the...

It began with words that insult and incite, then quickly escalated to rapid-fire judgments so full of agendas, and self-interest that is was doomed to collapse under the weight of its own hypocrisy. And what was revealed in the end was a lie. “All drama is about lies. When the lie is exposed, the play is over.” That’s David Mamet...

In 1916, at the tender age of 22, Norman Rockwell submitted his first successful cover to the Saturday Evening Post – a magazine that became an essential in homes and business waiting rooms across America. Over the next 47 years, the illustrator produced another 321 original covers for the Post. Of course, what Rockwell succeeded at most was depicting America in a kind...

“Ethics is a code of values which guide our choices and actions and determine the purpose and course of our lives.”- derived from Ayn Rand Regarding The Golden Rule – one aspect of the Five Steps of Principled Reasoning by The Josephson Institute outlined in the last post, one reader wrote, “The problem is that all ethics is contextual for personality, hierarchy (not all issues are...

Every time I look at Emancipation Oak, on the grounds of Hampton University in Virginia, I think of the time I spent talking to students and teachers. A conversation with Dr. Freddye Davy of Hampton’s Honors College led to her using my What Do You Stand For? questionnaire in an essay contest for the school’s annual President’s Award. All thirty-two submissions...

“Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.” – Confucius, early Chinese teacher-philosopher One of the best (and most difficult to practice) definitions of the Golden Rule comes from former Hampton Honors College student Courtney Thompson. It’s a short, but powerful essay on what it means to live what Pastor Rick Warren would call, a “purpose-driven life.” When...

There’s always a debate about journalistic ethics when the media goes too far.  But there are journalists who stand by their own standards even when pressured by others. Charles Lewis founded the Center for Public Integrity after eleven years as an investigative reporter at ABC News and CBS News, as well as a producer for 60 Minutes. The following is a story Lewis shared with me...