Community forum on 'Neighbourhood Ethics: how good citizens make tough choices'

[LMNC]

The Lower Mountains Neighbourhood Centre (LMNC) is proud to present a
community forum with a special guest speaker from the St James Ethics
Centre, Andy Small, on the topic ‘Neighbourhood Ethics: how good
citizens make tough choices’.

The forum will form part of Neighbourhood Centre Week 2012 and will
take place at 10 am on Wednesday 16 May 2012 at the Sharon Burridge
Hall, Blaxland Community Complex, 33 Hope Street, Blaxland. It will
begin with a presentation by Andy Small, followed by questions from
the audience.

Have you ever asked yourself the question ‘What ought I to do?’
Whenever you are faced with this question, you are dealing with
ethics. Here are some examples that demonstrate the ethical dilemmas
we might face in our daily lives:

”Most of the time I know what’s right or wrong - and I can make
difficult choices if I’m prepared to pay the price for doing the right
thing. But this time it’s different – any of the options could be
right. But any choice I make will upset someone and I don’t know who
to upset or how to tell them why I made any particular choice rather
than another. What should I do?”

“I was always brought up to be loyal to my friends, but also to tell
the truth. Now I’ve got a terrible dilemma. Telling the truth will
mean being disloyal to my best friend. What should I do?”

“A neighbour who gave me great support when my partner died has just
poisoned several of their trees to improve their view. The council has
asked me if I saw anything. What should I tell them?”

“We don’t have enough money to meet all the demands on us – how should
we decide who to say no to?”

“Even though we tell everyone safety is our number one priority we
always make decisions based on what our customers can afford. That
often means we cut corners. One day someone will get seriously hurt or
even killed. Should I blow the whistle?”

Andy Small became interested in ethics when he realised that the
company he led could not be the best at everything despite a mission
statement saying that’s what it aspired to – tough choices need to be
made to avoid the nightmare of saying one thing but actually doing
another. A common ethical minefield.

Entry by gold coin donation; includes morning tea. To reserve your
place, contact LMNC on 4739 1164 or email ad...@lmnc.org.au.

What: Community forum - ‘Neighbourhood Ethics: how good citizens
make tough choices’
When: Wednesday 16 May 2012 at 10 am
Where: Sharon Burridge Hall, Blaxland Community Complex, 33 Hope
Street, Blaxland