Happy Birthday, Boz! | The Business Ethics Blog February 12, 2012
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By Lauren | February 10, 2012
This week marked the two hundredth birthday of a literary legend. The great Charles Dickens, author of more than a dozen novels and numerous short stories and articles, playwright, lecturer, actor, and darling of Victorian society on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, was born in Portsea, England, on January 7, 1812. There have been Dickens celebrations all over the English-speaking world this week, and I can?t let Saturday come without adding my own small tribute to an extraordinary man.
Anyone who?s sat in an English literature class knows that Dickens draws almost universal approbation for his cleverly-drawn characters. From Oliver Twist to Ebenezer Scrooge, Dickens created a small platoon of evocative personalities whose passions and fears drove his stories to marvelous conclusions. His novels, never out of print, have been adapted and re-adapted for the stage and screen for generations. It?s hard to imagine getting through the Christmas season without enjoying at least one screening of A Christmas Carol in any of its many permutations.
Still, I wonder how the great author would respond to the world we?ve built today. Having himself been poor in 19th Century England, Dickens was a tireless social crusader, ferociously criticizing the poverty and social stratification of Victorian society. His descriptions of the squalor and crime that dogged the poor shocked his readers and led to significant social reform. What would Charles Dickens think of 21st Century American society, with its growing gap between the richest of the rich and everyone else, the constant political pressure to deregulate potentially dangerous industries, and the mean-spirited, knee-jerk rhetoric that so often drowns out civil discourse? Somehow, I think Dickens would be quick to put pen to paper and let all of us know how far off course we?ve drifted.
For the last several months, I?ve dedicated my Friday posts to helping businesses responsibly avoid litigation. While I continue to think that?s important, I also think our nation stands at a crossroads, and that it?s time for us to collectively choose a better path. As a birthday gift to Mr. Dickens, I plan to devote my Friday posts for the next while to examining some of the inequities in our country and questioning whether this is really how we want to live. I?m no Boz, but I?ll do my best.
Topics: Business Ethics, Lauren Recommends, Personal Ethics, Social Ethics, corporate responsibility, ethics |
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