# 9 Doing The Right Thing

I took some time off recently to just play and have fun.  I needed to relax, renew and regenerate myself.   I am typically a positive person; however, I have to admit that from time to time I grow disheartened  about our collective ability to lead and govern ourselves.  As so often happens, just when I am at my lowest, something comes along to replenish my faith in our innate goodness as people and in our ability to do the right thing.

Who knew that by watching "60 Minutes" last Sunday night, my spirits would be lifted and my faith would be restored by being introduced to Staff Sergeant Sal Guinta.  Sergeant Guinta is the only living Medal of Honor recipient since the Vietnam War.  For 15 months nearly four years ago he was in many hellish fire fights in Afghanistan.  As he said, the only peace that he and his unit could get was in their dreams. 

He and his unit lived an uncertain life every day.  Yet the worst of the worst happened when they were overrun by the Taliban.  Their sergeant was killed and they heard over the Taliban radio that they -- the Taliban -- wanted a body.  He witnessed his friend get shot and the Taliban start to haul him away.  Sgt. Guinta refused to let that happen.  He ran into the middle of enemy fire -- wounded or killed the Taliban carrying away his friend -- enough so that the Taliban fled, allowing Sgt. Guinta and others in his unit to get to  their friend.

Unfortunately, their friend could not be saved.  However, Sgt. Guinta and others, who cared about the wounded soldier, were with him when he died -- their friendly faces were the last thing that he saw before passing away.  Because of his actions, their friend's body was able to be sent back to his family in the States, not left somewhere in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Guinta appears to be a very humble person who when faced with the very worst possible situation, did the right thing.  He does not see himself as a hero -- he is uncomfortable with all of the attention that has been bestowed on him.  He considers himself just a mediocre solder -- many others have given more -- but yet he finds himself in the limelight.

Perhaps he is just the right person at the right time to be in the limelight.  He is an ordinary guy who was just going about his business (of fighting a war) and did it in the best way he knew how.  He did not do it for glory or for accolades -- he did it because it was the right thing to do.

Sgt. Guita seems to represent so many of us workers.  We employees, for the most part, just want to go to work, learn our jobs, and be able to do the right thing.  No glory or limelight needed -- just the self- satisfaction of doing a job well done.