by Dr. Cecil Clements (18th September 2012)
As I looked at what was happening over the weekend, and seeing some of the responses to the government taking the initiative to bring reforms back on track, and hearing all the comments that were made about the government, about our Prime Minister, like – ‘Welcome back, government.’ ‘Rip Van Winkle has woken up’ etc. I thought back to how the government has been all these years, and I’m not trying to get political here. I’m just looking at this scenario and wondering what we can gain from it.
It seems in so many ways, that the whole idea of coalition sometimes holds us down; it prevents us from being who we are. Coalition politics, if you will, has the ability to almost bring people down to an average level, rather than allow the excellence and the heights to which one can go. When you look at some of the things that were touted earlier in terms of the reforms, it seemed as if this government could do a lot and somehow they have not been able to do it because they couldn’t get their coalition partners to come alongside.
As I thought about that, I began to think about compromise. What does compromise mean? What does it do for us in our everyday life, if we can take a leaf out of what is happening in the political scenario?
Jeff Landauer and Joseph Rowlands wrote an article on Compromise. They say, “While compromise is often touted as a virtue, actually behind it is really 2 different concepts, 2 different understandings of the word. The first concept is the coming to an agreement on details under a shared basic principle. And the second is the destruction of both sets of basic principles to meet in the muck halfway between.”
Did you get that? The first is the coming together under a basic principle and then working out details by compromising some of the things, but not the basic principles. The second is abandoning the basic principles to meet halfway in between, with no principles intact.
They elaborate on this saying, “The first is like two traders and the basic principle is trade. The details are how much of X to trade for how much of Y. Both traders will try to get a good deal but only if the price is beneficial to both. This is how markets are made and prices of goods are determined. Another example is two friends who go out and decide to watch a movie. The basic principle is friendship and the details are which movie to watch.
But the second concept is really where the whole problem of compromise comes in, not as a virtue. It is where basic principles are either followed or not followed. When they are dropped, then the basic assumption here is that they are not followed. And basic principles that are not followed are never partly followed. You cannot partly follow a basic principle. It would be like one person having violence as a basic principle and the other person having non-violence as the basic principle. The two can never meet in the middle and say, “We could use a little bit of violence.” It would go against the person who was non-violent. Or for example, we could take honesty. You can’t compromise on honesty. It would mean a basic principle has got compromised.
So as we look at that, we begin to see some of the underpinnings of compromise and coalition that have happened; that basic principles need to be stuck to.
I like this quote by Mahatma Gandhi. “All compromise is based on give and take. But there can be no give and take on fundamentals or basics. Any compromise on fundamentals is surrender. For then, it is all give and no take.”
When we look at our own spaces, the areas that we are in as in the office, or home, or among friend circles, sometimes the need for each of us is to be liked by everybody. And we have a ‘getting along’ principle. That’s a principle that can always get you into trouble because anyone who is willing to compromise and make some deal – any deal is then okay, which is a bad, unhealthy premise to stand on.
Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister, said, “If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything, at any time, and you would achieve nothing.”
When you begin to compromise on things like that, then good is put down and evil begins to come to the fore. When good and evil compromise, it is always evil that wins. Good can only lose by compromising. Evil can only exist through the act of compromising. Take honesty and dishonesty. If there’s compromise, the result is dishonesty. Take justice and injustice. If there is compromise, the result is injustice. Take rationality and irrationality. If there is compromise, the result is irrationality. Or integrity or the lack; it is the lack if it is compromised.
A compromise on a basic principle is the destruction of that principle, and a compromise on a good principle is the lifeblood of evil. When we compromise on good things, then evil is allowed to come in. I am not talking now about the government. I’m talking about us in our own lives, our ethics, our values, our moral system. What are the things that we compromise on? Are we really willing to hold good to the things that need to be held in good? Are we willing to say that this is a basic principle in my life and I will not compromise, whatever the odds? Am I willing to say that if I do this, it will diminish me; it will make me less than who I am? Do we have basic principles? Would be a basic question to us. Are there principles that we can stand on?
Somebody once said, “If we don’t stand for anything, we will fall for everything.” How true! We have got to be able to stand for something.
Compromise is a virtue to the extent where it never compromises basic principles. Compromise is a virtue when you see how you can work out details so that the ultimate good is done. That’s when compromise is good. Is it difficult? Yes, of course it is.
Peter Callaghan said, writing in the News Tribune, “Sometimes the price of courage is defeat.”
But do we go back because of that? No. We need to press on, to make sure that everything that we are, comes out, that the good in us comes out, that we are able to stand for good ethics, good morals, good values. We need to have basic principles that are never ever compromised.
So as you look at your own situations – are you being pushed into a place where you are compromising? Not in terms of details of getting the job done, but in terms of who you are? Are you beginning to compromise on all those things? I think it’s good for us to think on this Tuesday morning about compromise. It’s a good thing as long as it’s just working out the details of a basic principle, which is hold true to. But it’s not a good thing if the basic principle gets thrown out.
My prayer for you is that today, you would think deeply about it and maybe, put back into your life, the basic principles that you need to adhere to and not let evil raise its ugly head because good is being compromised.
Let me pray with you. Almighty God. On each one of these precious ones, pour out your Spirit in discerning ways, to help each of us know where there are areas in which we are being compromised or have compromised. Give us principles of value that will honor You, to be put into our lives and give us the will to be able to stand by those principles. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
As I looked at what was happening over the weekend, and seeing some of the responses to the government taking the initiative to bring reforms back on track, and hearing all the comments that were made about the government, about our Prime Minister, like – ‘Welcome back, government.’ ‘Rip Van Winkle has woken up’ etc. I thought back to how the government has been all these years, and I’m not trying to get political here. I’m just looking at this scenario and wondering what we can gain from it.
It seems in so many ways, that the whole idea of coalition sometimes holds us down; it prevents us from being who we are. Coalition politics, if you will, has the ability to almost bring people down to an average level, rather than allow the excellence and the heights to which one can go. When you look at some of the things that were touted earlier in terms of the reforms, it seemed as if this government could do a lot and somehow they have not been able to do it because they couldn’t get their coalition partners to come alongside.
As I thought about that, I began to think about compromise. What does compromise mean? What does it do for us in our everyday life, if we can take a leaf out of what is happening in the political scenario?
Jeff Landauer and Joseph Rowlands wrote an article on Compromise. They say, “While compromise is often touted as a virtue, actually behind it is really 2 different concepts, 2 different understandings of the word. The first concept is the coming to an agreement on details under a shared basic principle. And the second is the destruction of both sets of basic principles to meet in the muck halfway between.”
Did you get that? The first is the coming together under a basic principle and then working out details by compromising some of the things, but not the basic principles. The second is abandoning the basic principles to meet halfway in between, with no principles intact.
They elaborate on this saying, “The first is like two traders and the basic principle is trade. The details are how much of X to trade for how much of Y. Both traders will try to get a good deal but only if the price is beneficial to both. This is how markets are made and prices of goods are determined. Another example is two friends who go out and decide to watch a movie. The basic principle is friendship and the details are which movie to watch.
But the second concept is really where the whole problem of compromise comes in, not as a virtue. It is where basic principles are either followed or not followed. When they are dropped, then the basic assumption here is that they are not followed. And basic principles that are not followed are never partly followed. You cannot partly follow a basic principle. It would be like one person having violence as a basic principle and the other person having non-violence as the basic principle. The two can never meet in the middle and say, “We could use a little bit of violence.” It would go against the person who was non-violent. Or for example, we could take honesty. You can’t compromise on honesty. It would mean a basic principle has got compromised.
So as we look at that, we begin to see some of the underpinnings of compromise and coalition that have happened; that basic principles need to be stuck to.
I like this quote by Mahatma Gandhi. “All compromise is based on give and take. But there can be no give and take on fundamentals or basics. Any compromise on fundamentals is surrender. For then, it is all give and no take.”
When we look at our own spaces, the areas that we are in as in the office, or home, or among friend circles, sometimes the need for each of us is to be liked by everybody. And we have a ‘getting along’ principle. That’s a principle that can always get you into trouble because anyone who is willing to compromise and make some deal – any deal is then okay, which is a bad, unhealthy premise to stand on.
Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister, said, “If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything, at any time, and you would achieve nothing.”
When you begin to compromise on things like that, then good is put down and evil begins to come to the fore. When good and evil compromise, it is always evil that wins. Good can only lose by compromising. Evil can only exist through the act of compromising. Take honesty and dishonesty. If there’s compromise, the result is dishonesty. Take justice and injustice. If there is compromise, the result is injustice. Take rationality and irrationality. If there is compromise, the result is irrationality. Or integrity or the lack; it is the lack if it is compromised.
A compromise on a basic principle is the destruction of that principle, and a compromise on a good principle is the lifeblood of evil. When we compromise on good things, then evil is allowed to come in. I am not talking now about the government. I’m talking about us in our own lives, our ethics, our values, our moral system. What are the things that we compromise on? Are we really willing to hold good to the things that need to be held in good? Are we willing to say that this is a basic principle in my life and I will not compromise, whatever the odds? Am I willing to say that if I do this, it will diminish me; it will make me less than who I am? Do we have basic principles? Would be a basic question to us. Are there principles that we can stand on?
Somebody once said, “If we don’t stand for anything, we will fall for everything.” How true! We have got to be able to stand for something.
Compromise is a virtue to the extent where it never compromises basic principles. Compromise is a virtue when you see how you can work out details so that the ultimate good is done. That’s when compromise is good. Is it difficult? Yes, of course it is.
Peter Callaghan said, writing in the News Tribune, “Sometimes the price of courage is defeat.”
But do we go back because of that? No. We need to press on, to make sure that everything that we are, comes out, that the good in us comes out, that we are able to stand for good ethics, good morals, good values. We need to have basic principles that are never ever compromised.
So as you look at your own situations – are you being pushed into a place where you are compromising? Not in terms of details of getting the job done, but in terms of who you are? Are you beginning to compromise on all those things? I think it’s good for us to think on this Tuesday morning about compromise. It’s a good thing as long as it’s just working out the details of a basic principle, which is hold true to. But it’s not a good thing if the basic principle gets thrown out.
My prayer for you is that today, you would think deeply about it and maybe, put back into your life, the basic principles that you need to adhere to and not let evil raise its ugly head because good is being compromised.
Let me pray with you. Almighty God. On each one of these precious ones, pour out your Spirit in discerning ways, to help each of us know where there are areas in which we are being compromised or have compromised. Give us principles of value that will honor You, to be put into our lives and give us the will to be able to stand by those principles. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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