[DFT] Fw: [ChivalryToday] When Knights Blow the Whistle

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----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott A. Farrell" <scott at ChivalryToday.com>
To: <ChivalryToday at YahooGroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2003 12:45 PM
Subject: [ChivalryToday] When Knights Blow the Whistle


> When Knights Blow the Whistle
> By Scott Farrell
> (c)2003 Shining Armor Enterprises
> www.ChivalryToday.com
>
> Imagine you have the "perfect" job - working for a Fortune 500 company,
> or maybe a respected government agency, with a prestigious executive
> title. Your family is happy and healthy, you live in an upscale
> suburban neighborhood, drive a handsome automobile and your salary is
> enough to allow your spouse to stay at home and be a full-time parent.
> Career-wise, you are "set for life."
>
> Then, one day, you discover a dark, horrible secret lurking in a
> forgotten filing cabinet ...
>
> Not too long ago, we thought of "heroes" as people who won battles or
> saved children from burning buildings. As we learn about the Code of
> Chivalry Today, however, we see that heroes don't exist only in epic
> tales of glory and adventure. A hero can also sit at a desk, carry a
> briefcase, drive a minivan and tuck the kids in at night.
>
> "Whistleblower" is a phrase used to describe a person who steps forward
> to reveal some form of impropriety. In the past year we have seen
> powerful examples of the courage and heroism required to be a
> whistleblower, a defender of the truth, a knight in shining armor of
> the 21st century.
>
> Last year Sherron Watkins, a vice-president at Enron, confronted the
> company's chairman with documents she found that revealed massive
> accounting irregularities. Cynthia Cooper, an internal auditor at
> WorldCom, went before the board to expose nearly $4 billion in
> cover-ups. Coleen Rowley, a staff attorney at the FBI field office in
> Minneapolis, sent several memos to the director that proved the Bureau
> overlooked warnings about the 9/11 attacks.
>
> Of course, being heroic is easy if your courage brings you acclaim and
> admiration; these women knew they were destined for anything but. They
> knew their supervisors wanted them to stay quiet, but they also knew
> they would have to look themselves in the mirror each morning, and they
> chose the path of self-respect instead of convenience.
>
> Two days after her meeting, Watkins was threatened with termination,
> then her computer was confiscated, she was moved from her plush office
> into a tiny cubicle and given meaningless make-work jobs until she
> resigned. Cooper was personally blamed for the 17,000 layoffs that
> occurred after the cover-up she exposed became public, and she became a
> pariah within the company. Rowley received bags of mail from fellow FBI
> agents demanding her resignation and comparing her to convicted spy
> Robert Hanssen.
>
> These whistleblowers (who were named by TIME Magazine as its "2002
> Persons of the Year") risked their families' security and put
> themselves through anguish and heartache because they knew integrity
> was more valuable than the "perfect" job. They forced all of us to
> wonder, "If I found that dark, horrible secret in the filing cabinet,
> would I have the courage do what they did?"
>
> A hero isn't always the person who charges bravely into battle. More
> often, a hero is the person who must choose between what's safe and
> what's right. These whistleblowing heroes remind us that being a knight
> in shining armor sometimes means making painful sacrifices in the name
> of chivalry.
>
> = = = = = = =
> There's lots of new stuff at www.ChivalryToday.com:
> - "My Heart on the Line," Frank Schaeffer's essay on duty and chivalry;
> - Fresh stories in "Portraits in Chivalry";
> - A thoughtful poem exploring what "Chivalry Is ... ";
> Plus: Reprints of some memorable "Chivalry Today" weekly columns.
>
> = = = = = = =
> Readers are encouraged to pass this column on to others who may be
> interested in exploring the historical, literary or practical aspects
> of the Code of Chivalry, such as teachers, executives, co-workers,
> athletes, children or anyone who is inspired by heroism and honor.
> Please include all attributions and copyrights when sharing Chivalry
> Today articles. Copyright 2003 Scott Farrell and Shining Armor
> Enterprises. Visit our website at www.ChivalryToday.com .
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
> http://www.ChivalryToday.com/
>
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>
>


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