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July 2005 Issue
It could be worse ...
by Jennifer Shike
Isn’t it amazing how you can justify just about anything?
Come on, admit it. We all do it. Whether it’s justifying why we need that new flat screen TV or why our parents should extend our curfew from midnight to 12:30 a.m. And my personal favorite — convincing myself that eating a skillet cookie covered with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce is really OK because I’ll exercise tomorrow.
I can see some of your heads nodding.
It’s easy to find yourself in this justification trap. Who doesn’t like to find a way to feel good about doing the “wrong” thing?
As I cleaned out my office and made the move to the next office over in our building, I came across a saying that Dan Baker gave me when he retired. And for some reason, it’s been on my mind lately.
The saying is short and simple: “There is no right way to do the wrong thing.”
When he gave it to me, I thought it was nice and set it up in the corner of my office. But, I have to admit I really didn’t think about it much. I just took it for its face value. We aren’t supposed to do bad things. (I started learning that a long time ago when my little sister was born.)
But as I read it again, almost two years later, it struck me as being quite significant in its simplicity. How many times do we make up reasons to justify a wrong choice we’ve made?
We believe if our reasoning is sound, our actions become excusable. I believe this struggle is universal. But in my opinion, when you are raising kids and livestock together, the stakes get even higher. Not only do these justifications affect our kids, but they also affect the meat products we are raising that go out into the food chain and the future of our livestock shows.
Have you ever used one of these excuses to justify doing something you know you probably shouldn’t?
1. Everyone is doing it…
2. If it makes you feel good, do it…
3. You have to do it in order to compete…
4. I need to do it to fit in…
5. Life’s short, who cares?
6. No one will ever find out…
7. It’s only going to affect me…
8. I could be doing something worse…
This last excuse frustrates me the most. A while ago, I watched a documentary about parents who allow their under-age children to have drinking parties in their homes. While I don’t agree with this choice, what disappointed me the most was the reasoning behind their decision. They said they would rather have their under-age child drinking alcohol in their own home, than to be out on the roads drinking and driving.
What is happening in our society today that we can rationalize breaking the law because we could be doing something worse?
Each time a youth swine exhibitor justifies a bad decision with an excuse like this, the next bad decision they make will become that much worse. We can’t forget we are in the food business, and we are ultimately producing a meat product. All it takes is one bad decision in the show ring to cause us to lose something we love — our shows.
I understand that I can’t convince everybody to refuse to use these excuses. But I want to encourage those of you who see these excuses’ shortcomings to stand strong and support others who do the right thing (even when it doesn’t equal a win). It’s important that we join together as an industry to protect our children, our meat products and our shows.
Sure, there will always be people who think they can get away with doing the wrong thing. But, someday, we will answer for the things that we do and we’ll learn that Baker’s saying is very true — there is no right way to do the wrong thing.
