European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 18, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes Ellen Goodman Exxon Boss owes More than hollow apology when i see yet another account of Oil Slick cd sea Birds washed up on Slippery Beach rocks in Alaska. 1 wonder about . Rawls. The chairman of Exxon must Sec these photos Loo. When he looks up from the Bottom line out from the Circle of lawyers who have sur rounded him. What docs he think i am Noi the Only one who has won dered about him and his inner Circle of executives. More than one economist or ecologist. Making a Cross cultural note has said that in Japan the ceo of such a disaster would have resigned in shame and Sor Row. Japan is no Paragon of virtue re cent government scandals have proved thai but the country is ruled by moral consensus. Ours seems to be ruled by the ethic of lawsuits. In litigious America guilt is no longer defined As something you feel but. Rather something that must be proved. We rarely hear a High corporate executive Admi t moral blame. Here having a Law ver Means never really saying you re sorry. Chairman Rawls did apologize. Sort of. More than a week after the disaster he published the most impersonal of per Sonal apologies. I can imagine inc Wrang Ling Between inc Public relations and Legal staffs behind the words of that hol Low statement. I want to Tell you How sorry 1 am thai this Accident took this Accident that took place sounded As a Island from his moral do main As his desk was from Prince Wil Liam sound. But it s More than Captain Hazelwood of the Exxon Valdez said Law Rcd into silence. To apologize might be to incriminate. I am not after the resignation of raw is and his inner Circle. But it docs seem to me that when a disaster occurs the people in charge have some duty to do More than Call their lawyers. They have a duty to pay their respects with Lime and Energy to spend weeks months scrubbing the rocks and sea Lilc with their own hands and paying last respects to the lost life. I think this is True for chairman Rawls As Well As for the Crew of the Exxon Val Doz. I thought it was also True for the Union Carbide people who devastated Bhopal India and never Laid a personal compassionate hand on its victims. And i think it is True for All the people who have Ever confused a moral wrong with a criminal wrong whose self defense against unethical behaviour is i did nothing the american system of Laws and suits allows us to gel retribution even Justice for some crimes. Bui it seems to work against that process of confession and forgiveness that heals wounds As it rights wrongs. It even makes it harder for adversaries to explain themselves and to understand each other. You Don t have to go to Prince Wil Liam sound or Bhopal to see this. Consider the kind of defensive medi Cine practice routinely by hospitals. In any Hospital Over Lime there arc operations botched accidents thai look patients and families Are left suf Fering. But Many a doctor is advised not to Apo Logue even speak to the family be cause that human expression of regret could be used in court As an admission of Guill. In turn people filing malpractice suits often express their greatest anger against inc very doctors who did t even say they were in addition to defensive business and defensive Medicine we also practice defensive politics. Politics by advice of at Torney. Politicians who gel in trouble usually answer questions about right and wrong with answers about Legal Guill or innocence. This is surely inc Iheme of Jim Wright s woes. America is a pluralistic society. Unlike Japan we can rarely apply the pressure of a moral consensus. We have different inter cols different Points of View. As the trial of Oliver North showed it is easier for us to make decisions about specific Legal trespasses than general ethical con Cerns. So the motto of american Dis agreement is go ahead and sue me. And there Are some 700,000 lawyers in Amer Ica available to take sides one lawyer for every 350 americans. The More we sue each other the More we Ratreal try ing to protect ourselves. The closer to the lop. The greater the protective Barrier of lawyers. Ultimately under the Rule of Law suits in has become far Loo easy to con fuse moral and Legal responsibility we mix up inc Long words like culpability and liability. And in that linguistic and ethical confusion in be Conics harder and harder to express something As simple As re Grels dismay and sorrow. Washington Posl Wrilen Ioup Joe Murray historically . Is lust about due another War Over time we snarl gelling involved in some place like Panama i Start gelling scared. We re about due a War. You know. In inc 120 years from i860 to 1980. The United slates has averaged one War per generation civil War Spanish american world War i world War ii Korea and thai agony we Call Vietnam. We re Al the Midway Point of inc seventh generation and. Knock on Wood so far so Good. But it s enough to make you wonder arc we a War ring nation the Verv question would Appal most americans. Ask any of us if we Hale War and Well say without hesitation that we do with All our heart and soul with tears in our eyes. Yet let even the Rumor of War come along and we re in arc at dockside cheering to the martial music and waving the flags As we wave goodbye to our children. Thai s All they arc you know. The average age of our kids killed in Vietnam was 19. What was it filly thousand or More like most everybody. I forget. Imagine the unknown Talent we lost. Mow Many great writers scientists doctors lawyers ministers statesmen and leaders in every Fiel the Cost of War can never be completely totalled up. If one Ever was maybe that would be inc last one. I watched on to As the Young troops were loading for Panama. One of them a handsome fellow in his uniform was asked if he had any second thoughts about the Call up. No he assured us. Our leaders know exactly whal they re us Luth. Not that Noriega does t deserve whatever he gets. Everybody would agree he s a bad Man. But up until when two years ago Noriega was our Man in Panama. Did he just snarl being bad or did we just Stop being dumb How could that happen with leaders who know exactly what they re doing we should have known especially with him being As ugly As sin. His complexion alone should have tipped us off. If he looked like say Ollic North. Well in d be Halfway understandable How he got by like he did. If you get a Chance watch the program currently showing on Hob letters from in s a re port on War reduced to its simplest the words of the soldiers writing Home. Here s one i remember. Can t forget Tell Susie 1 love her and that i know i la be coming Home. I feel it s god s will that i a few weeks later this Young Soldier was killed in action on the fourth of july a real live Nephew of his Uncle Sam. For America a peaceable Nalion to hate War is inc easiest thing in the world. In Only gels hard when you Are faced Wilh the Opportunity to oppose War. Thai s when it becomes in american. Con news sort la
