We are faced with opportunities every day to make the decision to do the right thing. Most of us were raised with values where doing the right thing comes automatically, but not always. Life has been getting more and more complicated and darker in many ways. Sometimes it seems as if the “dirty operators” seem to float on the top water and the rest of us struggle treading water just to keep our heads above water.

There would be the temptation to stoop to their way of doing things so that life wouldn’t be so hard. We might be tempted to take short cuts. No one would really know, would they? Everyone does it. What difference does it make if the cashier gave me too much change back, or the bank teller accidentally gave me an extra $10. What would you do if you found a purse with several hundred dollars in it?

I had a patient a while back who was upset that his daughter’s contacts would not be covered 100% by his insurance. After some research I found out that they had been fit in a lens that was not approved by the FDA for the wearing schedule prescribed a year ago. The previous doctor had decided it was ok to put a lens on a patient that would not maintain the optimum health status for that patient. That’s taking a short cut to make more profit margin on cheaper lenses. It’s just not the right thing to do. It was impossible to explain to the father what had happened and why it wasn’t good. He left my office unhappy with me and went back to the previous doctor to get those contacts covered by his insurance. I could have fit the patient in something different but the father was not hearing it at that point. I couldn’t make myself do the wrong thing and doing the right thing was costing me money. It was having a parent dissatisfied with my office and myself.

Doing the right thing isn’t always easy. Many times it’s just plain difficult. Doing the right thing makes us have to go against the crowd. In doing so it may mean we are isolated and standing all by ourselves. However, doing the right thing will always pay off in the long run. Our sense of being in balance with the world is always better. I do believe in karma, so doing the right thing will come back with positive in return. The Golden Rule is such a good guideline to live by.. treat others the way you would want to be treated.. Just do it.. Do the right thing.

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