While not known as extroverts, we’re still perceived as hospitable, friendly and benevolent – but not always to each other, it seems.
The public discourse about the likelihood of St. Peter’s Estonian Lutheran Church in Toronto being sold has raised concerns about the possibility of unethical procedures used that are rarely practised in the community. It’s sometimes noted that, “eesmärk pühitseb abinõu” – ends justify the means. But ends and means are related, not separate actions. If the goal is morally justified, the means to get there should be ethical. Mutual acrimony, through raised voices, harsh language and personal attacks need not be a harbinger of unethical conduct. Practitioners of unethical methods usually have a smug contempt for the ‘ill-informed’. (Yes, I’m sanctimoniously judgmental. No apologies.)
