What does your conscience say?

  • Published
  • By Col. Walter Saeger Jr.
  • Air-to-surface munitions directorate director
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (AFPN) --  How many times have you started to do something only to stop and ask yourself, "Should I really do this?" Maybe it doesn't happen too often for you, but it does for me.

Every time I have to decide what action to take, I hear this little voice that guides my decision. Some people would call it my conscience.

The conscience is a wonderful thing when it's there and listened to. It can keep us from doing things that could get us in trouble.

But, it has to be there and it has to be listened to. Most people have a conscience that they listen to -- at least I assume they do or we would have a lot more crimes being committed or laws being broken.

So why am I worried about whether you have a conscience or not?

It comes down to the business that we are in. Being in the Air Force -- civilian or military -- we are entrusted to perform a service for our country. How we perform that service depends highly on our conscience.

How many times have you stretched your coffee break an extra 15 minutes and thought it didn't harm anyone since you still got all of your work done for that day? How about the time you went TDY and came back when you were scheduled to even though the meeting ended early and you could have come back a day earlier? Hopefully no one reading this has been tempted to do the latter although I'm sure many people have done the former.

Both scenarios are examples of the Air Force being short-changed; in the first example it's "only" time while in the second it's both time and money. Maybe you work hard and rationalize that the Air Force owes you that much, but does it? If you were paying the bill, how would you feel then?

That is how you should look at everything you do. If I were paying the bill, would I still be willing to do what I am about to do?

Another way to ensure you do the right thing is the "60 Minutes" test. If someone from "60 Minutes" -- the TV show with Mike Wallace -- were to walk up and ask what you were doing and why, would you be willing to tell them everything and wait to see it on TV? Or better yet, have someone from your family see it on TV?

I've always asked myself why I would do something that I wouldn't want to read about in the newspaper or see on the TV news. When your actions can stand the "60 Minutes" test, you can be pretty confident that you're doing the right thing for the right reason. There will always be exceptions, but unless you're lying to yourself (and your conscience won't help you there), people will trust you.

Now I'm sure you're asking yourself, "What does all of this have to do with me?" It goes back to be being in the Air Force.

Americans trust us to do our best to protect them and our way of life. This trust is based on each of us doing what is right, no matter what others may think or do, and you cannot always do what is right without guidance like your conscience or the "60 Minutes" test. Use them often enough and eventually you won't even hear them -- it will just be natural to do the right thing all the time.