Whenever I hear the word “metrics” I cringe. The big problems we face don’t need more metrics. They need more ethics.
We live in a dystopian world where only money and metrics matter, and that determines people’s “value”. But ethically, money only matters insofar as it meets peoples’ needs and helps them thrive and become their best selves. How do we get there? It’s pretty clear what doesn’t work: Religion, Capitalism, and our present form of Democracy. They never will unless we confront some stark realities.
Religion needs to be based on the understanding of everyone’s infinite value, and then, promoting that understanding. Instead, the big three, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, are all based on the same basic belief in everyones’ total depravity instead of their infinite value. This is the root of religions’ decay, and it leads to extremists’ destructive beliefs. I only hope the next “Great Awakening” will start by recognizing every person’s infinite value. This is the ethical leadership needed to bring peace to our world.
Capitalism is theoretically amoral, espousing neither good nor evil. But our use is immoral. Making money: “good”. Losing money: “bad”. Ok so far. But, taking money is okay, as long as you can do it legally. By the way, the “takers” write the laws which makes taking legal. This is how our unethical, but legal healthcare system works. It is focused solely on metrics and money, not people. This is how corporations get huge tax breaks, but we don’t have enough money for our schools. Government serves corporations first, and people a distant second. Our form of capitalism-controlled-government has taken us back to the age of monarchs and nobility in less than 100 years with our blind cooperation. The new robber barons are in charge, and we have flunked our history test. Moral-Capitalism, based on the foundation of everyone’s value instead of only using them for personal gain would excise the capitalism problem.
Government exists to serve its citizens first, not corporations, and to protect us from corporate greed driven by metrics instead of ethics. The hope our founding fathers had was that the “empire” they built could change by listening to the people instead of having to suffer ruination before rebuilding. They saw and understood European history. Our Civil War, and the two world wars with the Great Depression in between shook our foundations. But we survived, rebuilt, and improved. Today, our foundations are again being tested. But there is hope for our future if we lift up our eyes. Representative government which recognizes people first and corporations second would solve our government problems.
It sure would be nice to do better this time around by learning from our past mistakes. Metrics can help us if we use them determine if we are getting ethical outcomes. But “metrics” has been tied to “efficiency”. This determines how to do the least to get the most. This drives corporate thinking into ethical quicksand. Boeing’s experiences with their MAX airplanes has shown us that efficiency is not ethical when peoples’ safety is compromised. Healthcare systems based on efficiency creates unethical treatment of those in medical need. School systems focused on reading and math metrics do not promote critical social and life skills. Math and reading scores are only an indicator of the much larger goals we fail to recognize. That failure then unethically deprives students of their education.
Putting ethics first puts everyone’s value first. It is rarely the most efficient way to do things, but it is the right way to do things if we value people more than metrics. Metrics puts people in their “place”. We need to put metrics in its place.
Ron Friesen is a Marysville resident, a retired music teacher and community and church musician and is committed to community improvement.
