In any reasonably complex modern society, individuals need to…
In any reasonably complex modern society, individuals need to go beyond being good neighbors, good persons. Individuals-and that means all of us-need to be good workers and good citizens.
— from True North (Ethics, Integrity, Truth, Values) · Truth, Beauty and Goodness Reframed: Educating for the Virtues in the Age of Truthiness an
In the book
The mature form of this reaches past your own street. The real test of ethics is responsibility taken independent of your own stake in the outcome — being not just a good neighbor but a good worker and a good citizen. There's a real distinction worth keeping: morality is the neighborhood virtue, how you treat the people right in front of you by virtue of your shared humanity; ethics is the wider, more abstract demand of a complex society, where you must be able to step outside your own skin and think of yourself in a role — as a Worker, as a Citizen — and act well in it. — True North (Ethics, Integrity, Truth, Values)
And you earn your own place in any of these circles not by being admired but by being useful — the deepest sense of belonging comes from feeling that you are of use to other people, and the truest mark of contribution is that it finally stops needing applause, because you carry its reward inside yourself. This is also where you graduate from being a good person to being a good citizen. In any complex modern society it is not enough merely to be a good neighbor and an honest individual; we each have to go further and take responsibility for the wider whole. It also means working, as the effective do, within your circle of influence — putting your energy into the things you can actually affect rather than the vast things you cannot. […] Belong by contributing. Find the people who care about what you care about, and earn your place by being useful rather than by being praised. Be a good citizen. Go beyond being a good neighbor to taking responsibility for the wider whole; speak up when something is wrong; but never surrender your own gifts to the crowd. Keep widening the circle. Refuse entitlement, bring others into your good fortune, and participate generously in the well-being of those around you. — Friends, Community & Society (Relationships/Community/Society)