I wonder...

What is so difficult about behaving ethically?

I am peripherally involved in a situation where a music therapist has behaved unethically in both her therapeutic services and in her professional relationships. The situation is ridiculous to say the least. None of the things that have happened are things that should have happened.

I am human. I make mistakes and have to apologize on a pretty regular basis. I sometimes snap when I should think, and I often rush into things that I shouldn't.

I try to be ethical in my dealings with others, not only in the professional world, but also in my personal life. This attitude comes not only from my ethical training, but also from my morals and upbringing. I was taught to think about the feelings of others. I was taught to see beyond myself and to see how my actions could affect the lives of other people.

I think it is a societal epidemic that people are out for number one and only number one. The issue seems to be that people think they should get what they want when they want without regard to what others want or need.

"Who cares if this hurts someone else. I will get what I want and that is okay." This attitude is prevalent in my clients, children and adolescents with developmental and psychiatric disorders, but is also becoming more prevalent in general society. We seem to be back into an egotistical, feel-good cultural epidemic that makes it easy to justify bombing people who live where we want to live, get what we want whenever we want it, and to threaten people if they do not do what we want them to do.

How can you ever justify taking something from another person? How can you ever think that bullying another human being would be acceptable? How can you defend a position that you can tell others what to do without doing the same yourself?

Why?

My pledge is that I will re-read the AMTA Code of Ethics this month. I will strive to act ethically in all of my dealings with my co-workers as well as with my clients. I will do what is right, even when others do not. 

Will you make a similar pledge?

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