Above all else

Let's suppose my boss asks me to advise on investing in a palm oil plantation.  And let's suppose I have a personal objection to the palm oil industry, because of environmental concerns.  What should I do?  Well, there are two basic options (a) do it; (b) decline to do it. On what grounds could I explain that I should do it?  Well first of all, I am just an employee - I can't go around refusing to do work based on whether it accords with my personal beliefs.  It's not like I'm the boss where I can walk away from the deal you know.  In the end, the final decision is not mine - whether I participate or withdraw, the decision to invest is being made by others.  I am just a good soldier, acting under instructions, so I will do my best.  Maybe I can even influence the plantation to adopt environmentally sound practices.  So far, so reasonable? Let's suppose it later turns out that the plantation is really indiscriminately slash-and-burning, and dumping tox

Early intervention often makes a difference in treating illness.  I was reminded of this as I made my rounds at last Friday's bread distribution.  The uncle who has one foot amputated on one leg and several toes on the other, because of diabetes.  It didn't have to be that way, had it been detected earlier.  A change in lifestyle, diet and medication would have made a difference. On the other hand, the grandmother lovingly looking after two grandkids, both with autism - but the good thing is that both have recently received access to Pathlight school, and hopefully all the intervention and help needed to cope. Intervention matters even for relatively minor maladies, like my friend who has bunions.  I popped by to see how she was doing, and it turns out that her bunions are so bad that her toes are permanently crossed, and it hurts too much to insert the bunion gel pad.  I remember that more than a year ago, she had suffered a bad cut on her foot, and when I saw her, her