Have you no sense of decency?

Kevin Mokento | Monday June 6, 2022 06:00

In a desperate effort to boost his reputation, McCarthy resorted to spinning mischievous subterfuge. He made the humiliating and politically suicidal mistake of picking a fight with an institution that thrives on drawing out the pugilistic instincts of its employees and has in its fold lionhearted militants who are comfortable with staring at death, eyeball to eyeball. That’s the US Army.

At the height of the geopolitical cold war tensions between the US and the USSR, McCarthy accused this body, which was, and still is, revered by many Americans, of the unforgivable sin of harbouring communists. At the hearings that were broadcast to tens of millions on TV, in response to McCarthy’s accusation that the army’s junior counsel was a communist, the senior counsel named Joseph Welch made this punchy and unforgettable statement that ferociously blew up the remnants of McCarthy’s political capital: “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or recklessness.” The attorney went on to hammer the final nail into McCarthy’s political career with these damning words: “Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?”

McCarthy failed to survive the public catcalls and the chilling opprobrium that followed. Three years down the line, blackballed by his GOP colleagues, peeled of his political residual, and stripped of the ability to churn out outrageous barbs, the mopey and cranky senator was reduced to a politically irrelevant pale shadow of himself, and he met his premature demise two years short of his quinquagenarian milestone.

My interest lies in the uncomplimentary words spoken by Welch. Words that were loaded with unambiguous scorn and derision; “Have you no sense of decency?” Wouldn’t you agree that the world would be a much better place if we often paused and reminded ourselves of the need to toe the line of decency? The Oxford Learner’s dictionary defines decency as, “Honest, polite behaviour that follows accepted moral standards and shows respect for others.” In our day-to-day interactions, we need to keep this question at the forefront of our minds. “Do I have no sense of decency?” Or its tweaked positive version, “Do I always strive to maintain a sense of decency?” And no, I am not demanding sainthood from fallible humans like me.

A great atmosphere at the workplace is not always guaranteed. It is a direct consequence of a pervasive spirit of decency. An institutionalised culture that demands objectiveness, integrity and accountability, not only from junior staff but also from all employees perched at each rung of the corporate ladder, including its apex. A work philosophy that engenders self-respect, respect for colleagues and stakeholders, good inter and intra-departmental communication, the propensity to resist the spirit of mansplaining, a keen sense of determination to abhor the regressive jobsworth attitude, and the proclivity to hurl opacity and the unfortunate inclination towards slyly shifting blame to others into the abyss.

You can’t freestyle your way out of the rut of indecency. It is important to maintain a self-perlustration checklist of principal employee attributes and frequently go through the list with a view to improving one’s sense of decency. Even more important, would be a humble disposition that would motivate one to allow a trusted colleague, an objective but not necessarily close coworker, to do the ticking of the checklist and share unbiased feedback. When the feedback is not as positive as one would wish, in essence frantically waving confirmation of the fact that we lack a sense of decency, rather than violently lash out at the mirror, an unadulterated sense of decency will impel us to appreciate the fissures developing in our professional façade and compel us to take immediate steps to repair them before they blow into some injudicious self-destructive attitudes.

During work functions, where bevvies are served without charge, naturally, it is expected that CEOs and ascendant senior managers, many of whom are approaching their professional apogee, would instinctively imbibe the inebriants in a mature and principled manner. But how often have we seen some of these individuals succumbing to flawed judgement, blootered senseless and behaving like putzes and winos anxious about whether they will have something to swig the next day! Why would they choose to have no sense of decency? Why do they think it is prudent to place their self-respect on the ledge for a fugacious moment of wooziness? To justify this sickening conduct, I guess, I would need to scratch my scalp hard until blood oozes.

A sense of decency at all levels of the judiciary value chain, from the police all the way to the justices serving on the country’s apex court, would ensure that deserving criminals are not only kept away from the streets but also handed rehabilitative sentences commensurate, neither with the sizes of their wallets, nor their relationship with the high and mighty, but with the gravity of the crime committed. Men and women of integrity endowed with a part to play in maintaining justice would passionately fulfill their role in a decent, circumspect and evenhanded manner.

When children observe their parents making a decent living, they would be keen to emulate their conduct. The same applies to indecent living. I have two daughters. The elder one is a fresher at university and the younger one is doing her second year at a junior high school. They have shared with me the indecent and appalling behaviour of their mates. Among other things, they bunk off lessons, bully other students, copy during examinations and insouciantly sass back at their teachers.

Though it is not true that children always mimic their parents, has it ever dawned on us, that some of the misbehaving children might have observed us, their parents, choosing to absent ourselves from work for the flimsiest of reasons, being physically and emotionally abusive to our spouses, or loudly and viciously subjecting our loved ones to a bad dressing down using the most humiliating of vocables? Are our children a genuine miniature version of our bad selves?

A great sense of decency will be reflected in our driving habits. Daily, we see drivers suffering from misplaced audacity impudently hogging two lanes, deliberately driving slowly on the right lane on dual carriageways, instantly making turns without bothering to indicate, consciously and remorselessly rough-cutting other drivers, aggressively tailgating, callously refusing to dip high beam headlights for oncoming traffic, arrogantly jumping traffic lights at high speeds and driving under the influence of intoxicating substances. Predominantly fatalistic attitudes if you ask me! No one needs to be reminded that such outlandish and distasteful behaviour is unacceptable. And no magnitude of fleeting mean-spiritedness and allure of adrenaline-pumping thrill is worth a single life. Just because it gives you tickling vibes doesn’t make it decent.

What can save us from such extreme and crippling McCarthy-esque insularity? Do the offending drivers pulling these puerile stunts have no sense of decency? Of course, we don’t want to fall into the trap of wishing upon them the so-called karmic moment where they would get involved in accidents and endanger the lives of innocent souls. Neither do we wish to dismiss them as incorrigible villains.

From time to time, may we appreciate that it is morally mandatory for us to introspectively check-in with ourselves, and determine whether we haven’t lost our sense of decency. If one or two things prickle our conscience, before it gets severely blunted, it would be wise to make the necessary adjustments and decidedly pull ourselves back to the lane of decency. All it calls for is a profound sense of maturity and generous tots of an enduring sense of self-discipline.