It’s time to stop caring about “your rights” and start caring about “what’s right”.
Why we need to move away from the self-serving practices that have been powering our societies for too long.
Why we need to move away from the self-serving practices that have been powering our societies for too long.
The COVID-19 virus has brought out the best in people. And it’s brought out the worst. Those manifesting their best selves are doing what’s right. Those with their worst selves on display are exercising their rights.
I was fired from my freelance marketing contract five weeks ago. This happened as a direct result of my raising valid concerns that the way in which my client was running her resort business was putting the local community at greater risk of a COVID-19 outbreak. Three days after I was fired, the BC Government’s tourism arm told such businesses to close… for the reasons I raised.
Do I regret speaking out? No, I don’t. Because it was the right thing to do.
From the outside, doing the right thing and exercising your rights can look similar. But there’s a big difference between them. The intention behind them.
In speaking out to the business owner who was employing me, my intention was to encourage her to change her practices and reduce the risk to the community of a COVID-19 outbreak. You see, many within the community right next to her business are especially vulnerable due to ill-health or age.
The business owner said she believed my intention was to harm her business; she took my emails as a threat and silenced me to exercise her right to run her business the way she wants.
The “I have a right to…” movement
Those who hide behind the phrase “I have a right to…” are self-serving. They have deemed their needs and wants to be more important than the needs and wants of others. I would go so far as to say that they believe they’re entitled to exercise their right to do whatever they want. They hide behind the law and are all about maximum personal gain. Because their actions are technically legal, “I have a right to” people try to frame what they’ve done as perfectly normal and acceptable.
For example:
“I have a right to…
… operate my business in any way I like. It’s my business and I’m a valuable member of the community!”
… visit my holiday home during the COVID-19 travel bans. I pay taxes and support businesses there!”
… keep my dog off-leash, even if it bites people repeatedly. There’s no Dog By-Law here so I can do what I like with my dog!”
… tell a customer that her mask is scaring people away. If she’s so at risk from COVID-19 that she needs a mask, she should stay at home!”
… do what I like re: COVID-19. My health is my business, your health is your business!”
Sadly, I didn’t make up any of these examples. I have personally encountered every single one. And, while the law is on the side of every single one of them, they all fail to do what is right.
The “I do what’s right” movement
The “I do what is right” movement has a completely different orientation. It is community-serving, even if this approach puts those adopting it at risk.
For example:
Healthcare workers do what’s right, 24/7, 365 days a year.
Emergency-service workers do what’s right, 24/7, 365 days a year.
People who speak out against injustice do what’s right.
People who take action against injustice do what’s right.
People who volunteer their time to help others do what’s right.
This COVID-19 pandemic is giving us all a chance to see something really important. The difference between what exercising your rights looks like and what doing what’s right looks like.
Once you start to see this difference, you can’t unsee it. This inability to unsee it offers you up a choice. To bury your head in the sand in an attempt to pretend you didn’t see it. Or to change.
What does change look like?
If you’re someone who tends to exercise your rights and prioritize your needs and wants above all else, you can change by adding some “doing what’s right” to your repertoire. I’m not optimistic that you’ll do this willingly; I believe, however, you will be made to at some point.
If you’re someone who tends to do what’s right, you will continue along this path. After all, it’s who you are. But, do you speak out against those who place people in your community at risk by exercising their rights? If you don’t, you can change by starting to speaking out.
To be honest, we need to go even further than speaking out. We need to stop enabling those with a self-serving “I have a right to…” mindset.
I believe we have a duty to stop supporting people and businesses who put their personal rights above what’s right.
We have a duty to do this, because those who “have a right to…” are doing what they’re doing at the expense of others. At the expense of vulnerable members of our society. At the expense of you and me.
Here’s the truth. The inequality apparent where I live on the Sunshine Coast, British Columbia and throughout the world all stems from one belief: that “my rights” are more important than “what’s right”. Let’s use the corporation Amazon to illustrate this.
Amazon exercises its right to sell everything online at a huge discount. In doing so, Amazon has put thousands of small, local businesses that couldn’t match their prices into receivership. Its reputation as an employer is lower than a snake’s belly: Amazon hasn’t allowed workplace unions, has warehouse working conditions that match those found in Victorian factories, campaigns against increases to the minimum wage and fires employees who go against these corporate beliefs. And yet, Amazon’s founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, is the wealthiest person on the planet, with a net worth of some $138 billion. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, his personal wealth has increased by some $24 billion; during this same period, Amazon’s treatment of the warehouse workers that power Bezos’ wealth has been even worse than normal.
In law, Jeff Bezos has a right to his personal wealth of $138 billion. But is it “right” that one individual has that kind of wealth?
The answer to that is no.
The inequality of wealth distribution is baked into our financial systems
The level of inequality between the billionaires/millionaires of the world and the vast majority of people is wrong. Those extreme levels of wealth have all been gained at the expense of others. That’s how the capitalist system is designed to work. An article in the November 2019 issue of Scientific American, “The Inescapable Casino”, examines the distribution of wealth in modern economies. It refutes the much-touted notion that “trickle-down economics” benefit the poor and concludes that:
“… these mathematical models demonstrate that far from wealth trickling down to the poor, the natural inclination of wealth is to flow upward, so that the “natural” wealth distribution in a free-market economy is one of complete oligarchy.”
In 2019, Oxfam estimated that only 26 people possessed as much household wealth as that of the lower 50% of the world’s population combined (approx. 3.5 billion people). 10 short years ago, it was 388 people who possessed that much wealth.
We all know people in our local community who are living in poverty, unable to pay for the basics. The cost of living in my remote community on the Sunshine Coast is very high. Food costs are driven in part by the cost of getting the food up here. This makes some sense; in addition to being remote, we’re only accessible by ferry. But the high cost of rental accommodation doesn’t make sense. Should a 1-bedroom apartment in the middle-of-nowhere, 20 minutes from the nearest village, cost only 35% less than the same apartment in downtown Vancouver? No, it shouldn’t. But it does. There’s a severe shortage of long-term rental properties in my community, and this scarcity is what dictates rental costs. Landlords have a right to charge what the market will bear. But is it right that they do this, that they ignore the reality of living here — the relative isolation, limited amenities, and the fact that most people who work are on minimum wage? No, it’s not right.
We, the ordinary people of the world, have considerable power
“But what can I do about this?” I hear you say. Well, you can vote with your wallet, for one.
Acting together, people like you and me have far more power than we realize. We have the power to buy only what we need and to buy it from the businesses we choose. We have the power to believe in the people we choose. We have the power to elect the officials we choose. We have the power to choose the values we live by. We have the power to choose how we show up in the world.
Let that sink in for a moment. Feel it in every cell in your body. Believe it as strongly as you can.
You see, together, you and I have more power than any single individual. More power than Jeff Bezos, than Richard Branson, than Elon Musk. Because together, ordinary people can decide the fate of these “I have a right to…” people.
Can you imagine what 10 million people choosing not to spend their money at Amazon would do to Amazon’s share price and Jeff Bezos’ net worth? Can you imagine the good 10 million of us choosing not to spend our money at Amazon would do for our local economies?
Our power is truly unlimited when it comes to doing right by choosing to spend our hard-earned money only in businesses that deserve it. I know what my household does makes a difference. The $3,000 we spent last year at the business that fired me will go to other local businesses this year. We haven’t bought from Amazon in years. We simply refuse to support people and companies whose principles are diametrically opposed to ours.
Your household may have even more power. You may also own a rental property, so can charge your tenants what’s right, not what you can get away with.
And we all can help those in our communities who need it. We can donate to local services like Food Banks. We can volunteer at local community aid organizations. We can make sure vulnerable households are doing OK. Everyone can make a difference.
What’s next?
The COVID-19 pandemic has made a new world possible. It has opened our eyes to what really matters. What really matters isn’t measured by the size of your bank balance or the size of your house. What really matters aren’t celebrities or the super-wealthy.
What really matters lives and breathes, and is all around you. What really matters is our planet and all inhabitants.
It’s time to stop caring about our rights, and start caring about what’s right. It’s time to do right by others. It’s time to share the wealth, to share the world.
Are you ready? I hope so. You’ll love how stepping fully into your power makes you feel.
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Sarah Blick is a Career & Life Coach, Strategist, Writer and Marketer. You can reach her at sarahblick.com.