On Yom Kippur, America Deserves an Apology
Guest Blog By Lauren Bloom
[Note from Shel: Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday of atonement and forgiveness, starts tonight, and I’m pleased to post this timely commentary on the economy, forgiveness, and Yom Kippur from my new friend Lauren Bloom]
This week marks the observance of Yom Kippur, or the “Day of Atonement,” the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Yom Kippur offers practicing Jews the opportunity to request and receive forgiveness for their mistakes and broken promises throughout the year. It’s a lovely tradition, and one that recognizes a fundamental fact about each and every one of us: We all make mistakes and, when we do, we need to apologize for them.
Just this week, we’ve seen what colossal damage corporate greed and dishonesty can do. As Shel Horowitz observed in this blog less than a month ago, the financial crisis gripping America could have been avoided if Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and other investment banks had followed common sense ethical principles. But because they let avarice overcome their good sense, American taxpayers are out $700 billion that may never be recovered, thousands of people have lost their jobs, retirees have watched their pension assets dwindle, the credit markets have dried up, homeowners across the country are facing foreclosure, and there’s no end to the crisis in sight. Somebody – the greedy financiers who created this disaster, the regulators who let them get away with it, the corporate Boards who failed to ask tough questions -– owes the rest of us a huge apology.
When a mistake is this enormous it can be tempting to say that an apology wouldn’t do any good, but nothing could be further from the truth. The bigger the mistake, the more an apology becomes a necessary first step toward healing. This week of Yom Kippur offers a wonderful opportunity for everyone who contributed to the financial crisis, regardless of their religious affiliation, to step forward and ask the American people for forgiveness.
Thank you, Shel, for the opportunity to guest on The Good Business Blog.
Lauren Bloom is an attorney who speaks and consults on business ethics and the author of The Art of the Apology – How to Apologize Effectively to Practically Anyone. Visit Lauren online at www.businessethicsspeaker.com and www.artoftheapology.com.
