THE RIGHT WAY

“There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 16:25)

Last night on WGBH’s “Greater Boston” program, Harvard Philosophy Professor Michael Sandel, author of “Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?” discussed several ethical dilemmas and questions with host Emily Rooney. The interview was was fascinating, deep, and quite thought provoking. This piece will not explore the kind of “life or death” issues that Sandel’s book does. Rather, I want to just share a few thoughts about what happens in everyday life when one tries to do things, “the right way.”

My father Eugene A. “Gene” Baril was a perfectionist.
“If you’re going to do something, DO IT RIGHT!” he would say.

He was meticulous about almost everything he did. When it was time to put in a backyard fence, he didn’t go to Grossman’s, get a cheap stockade fence and slap it up. (I’m not necessarily knocking that. That’s what WE did at the parsonage 20 years ago, and it worked O.K. for us!) No. He put in METAL posts to hold up the wooden fence. The poles are all in cement holes dug 6 feet into the ground! For the area under the sections of the fence, he dug two and a half foot trenches and filled them with cement, crushed stone, and cobblestones! He also bought pretty high quality lumber and cut the fence pieces out on a jigsaw. The fence was built between 1961 and 1964. Some sections of the wooden fence eventually rotted and deteriorated after over 25 years. My sister currently owns the house and property there. A few years ago, a friend of hers took part of the fence down and “saws-alled” the posts to ground level. Those cement and stone bases? They’ll be around for another 200-300 years!

I didn’t mean to spend so long talking writing about that, and that’s only ONE story of Gene Baril’s perfectionism! Thus, it should certainly come as no surprise to anyone that like my Dad, I prefer to do things “the right way”. Listen, this stuff of trying to do things the right way can get you into some sticky situations! I experienced one such sticky situation on Monday at the downtown Framingham post office. The downtown Framingham post office is a “sub station” of the main Framingham post office. In my opinion, it’s smaller than it should be, and it doesn’t have enough postal employees on duty at any given time. Many of downtown Framingham’s inhabitants are poor, foreign-born, and do not drive. At almost any time, the downtown post office is very crowded and can become a bit chaotic. Our church’s post office box is located there, so I find myself at the downtown post office quite a bit.

It used to be there would be 2 lines streaming up to the counter...well, maybe 2 official lines, and maybe a few people cutting in line to ask questions, etc. About a month ago, the downtown post office adopted a very good policy. There is (and has always been) a big table or counter in the middle of the place. That’s part of why you’d get 2 official lines...one on each side of the table moving up to the main “window counter”. The new policy is that there is only ONE line, on the left side of the “middle counter” and the right side is for EXITING after you’ve made a transaction at the window counter. Since the change has been made, things have been much more orderly and it’s worked out quite well- until last Monday.

On Monday I came in to the post office and ONE clerk was on duty. Despite the clear and legible signs, everybody was lined up on the EXIT ONLY side to go up to the window counter. The left, clearly marked, FORM ONE LINE ON THIS SIDE was empty. I went to the left side. I determined to “remember” the order of the other line, and to go to the window when it was my turn. A problem developed, however, when new people came into the post office. They were confused as to which line to get into. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut, but I said, “The sign says to line up on this side.”

“WHAT SIGN?! I DIDN’T SEE ANY SIGN” a guy in the “other” line yelled out, defensively.

“That sign right there.” I answered. Ironically, the person at the head of the wrong line was the female pastor of a Spanish Pentecostal church in town. Even she sort of gave me a dirty look and acted as if I was, well, a little crazy. At one point, one other woman nervously looked at me and said, “You go next,” when it was her turn.

“No,” I said, “It’s not my turn. You go ahead.” and she did.

“Are you a VETERAN?!” the yelling, defensive guy barked at me.

“No,” I answered, trying to keep calm, “I’m an Assemblies of God minister and I’m just trying to follow the rules.”

When it really WAS my turn, I went up to the clerk and bought my stamps.
“I can’t believe all this fuss for just trying to do the right thing,” I said to him.
He had no comment. He looked as if he just wanted to get out of there!

I was glad to finally get out of there, myself.

This also reminds me of the dilemma of what do you do when you’re driving, you come to an intersection, you’re planning to take a right turn, and you encounter a RED LIGHT AND A RED RIGHT ARROW. I used to NOT turn. I’d have people blasting their horns at me. My friend D.K. in Bellingham has told me of similar experiences as he also refused to take a right turn at such intersections. I do wish my father was alive and healthy because I’d love to ask his opinion about that one. Well, I looked into it a few years ago, and I found out that D.K. and I were amazingly WRONG. The Mass. R.M.V. says to just make a normal right turn in such a case!

Why then do they have intersections with RIGHT RED ARROWS as well as standard RED LIGHTS? The R.M.V. doesn’t know!! That won’t surprise Michael Graham very much!

So do things the right way, but prepare to get hassled for it!