 |
|
Search
City Hall175 East 200 NorthSt. George, UT 84770(435) 627-4000
| November 21, 2009 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Services & Resources
City Forms andApplications
Job OpportunitiesUtility InformationPay Utilities Online
City Departments
Building & Safety DivisionCode EnforcementNew DevelopmentFire DepartmentLegal ServicesLeisure ServicesParks MaintenancePolice DepartmentMore...
City Council
Agendas & MinutesMayor Dan McArthurCouncil Members
Public Transportation
Conservation
|
Integrity: WNOEIA What do YOU do "when no one else is around" (WNOEIA)? A friend of mine has these initials on a book marker to remind him of his goal. One St. George Police Officer (now a lieutenant) tells the story of a DUI arrest. The driver was in another car headed to jail, the wrecker was enroute to impound the car and he was doing an inventory of the vehicle. On the ground in the snow (yes, we do get snow occasionally) was a roll of money. Several thoughts went through his mind. The money would never be missed, no one else had seen it, but he did the right thing and logged it into evidence. They say there are three types of motivation: 1- fear of the negative results (such as pain, humiliation or punishment), 2- the desire for the positive (a reward either physical or psychological) and 3- a higher motivation that won't allow you to do anything else because it would compromise your internal values. (I may have lost some of you at this point. Go ahead and turn to the comics while I elaborate to the rest. After all, we all have our comfort zones.) At the first level, we fear the citation or the arrest, so we obey the law begrudgingly. If there were no police watching, we would drive how we want to and do what we wanted to do (speed, pick up the roll of money or the tool at the construction site) and count it as our good fortune that we didn't get caught. When we go to the second level, we want the good feelings that come from service, we turn in the roll of money because we want the reward or the praise. At the third level we do these good things because it's the right thing to do, without the thought of reward. This is the measure of integrity. I remember a traffic stop in the wee hours of the morning. I was west bound on Bloomington Drive South. A car appeared from a side street, running the stop sign at the corner and accelerated to double the speed limit. I followed and pulled the guy over. The conversation went like this: "Officer, how many cars have you seen in the last few hours?" My reply:"None" His response: "There is no one on the road and there is no reason to stop or hold to the speed limit if there is no one to endanger. What I did was totally safe and was not done recklessly." Not necessarily true if we play devil's advocate: What if there was someone coming home late, or if a doctor got called to the hospital in the middle of the night or a myriad of other "what-ifs" the result could have been quite different. What about obeying the law just because it's the law, and it's the right thing to do? I think it all comes down to our inner convictions that motivate us. Why do you do the things you do? When no one else is around, do you:
I have heard it said "Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny." No one can be completely perfect tomorrow, but we can be perfect in one thing today, starting right now. It's not where you are, but the direction you're going that counts. Pick one thing, do it until it's a habit, then pick another. St. George is the best place on earth to live, in my opinion, but it's only as good as the sum of all it's parts. By doing this, St. George can't help but be a better and safer place. Craig Harding Public Information Officer St. George Police Department |
Sunbrook | SG. Golf Club
Red Hills | Southgate
Junior Assoc. of Golf
Weather Information| ©2007 City of St. George. All Rights Reserved. | Report Website Errors |