ethics. The difficult thing for me personally is that I do not know how I would have reacted in this situation. I would like to think that I would have tried to blow the whistle or at least try to talk with someone in authority about the problem. If this did not work, I would like to think that I would have quit and went someone place else that I believed were more ethical. However, until being in such a situation, I do not know exactly how I would have reacted. I may have bitched and complained with other employees in the lunchroom or over the phone at night. However, would I have gone the extra step? Would I have been brave enough? I am not sure.

How much the Enron situation has changed is debatable. For a while, it appeared that companies were writing up ethical standards and promoting their importance. Whether this was because they really believed that this should be done or that they had to do so (the skeptic in me asks) remains unanswered. I do believe that over the past few years, the number of companies that have been developing these standards have declined after the first flurry. Also, scandals are quickly forgotten as another one comes in to replace the last.

I do feel that certain organizations that know they will be closely watched by the powers to be will mind their manners and not try anything as foolish as what the Enron officials did. However, these companies are a very small minority compared to the hundreds of thousands of businesses of all sizes and shapes that go on about t their business every day. Whether as a whole the majority of organizations changed after the Enron...

I believe that people who are going to be ethical will do so regardless whether or not they have to do so. The other ones with less integrity need to be continually reminded before they act -- it has to be in their best interests. In a highly competitive and global environment as exists today, companies have a lot more to worry about to survive than their ethics.
What is the most upsetting about this whole situation are the claims that came out after Lynn Brewer wrote her book and was recognized by the Nobel Peace Center for her whistleblowing and gallant behavior. According to a USA Today article (that Brewer requested a retraction and apology from for untruths), Brewer really is nothing like who she claimed she was. Work associates say that she was never a so-called "executive," but rather a rank-and-file employee, a high-level administrative assistant like most everyone. Also, say some people, she had some questionable circumstances prior to her work with Enron. Also, she jumped into this whole issue, not because she really cared about what was taking place but to beat out everyone else and get the fame and glory.

It this day and age it is most upsetting that it is difficult to know who to believe any more. What news is true (even from the President on down) and what news is not? How can anyone ask others to hold integrity a high ideal when it appears that the opposite is the norm in this country? What is most unfortunate about the Enron story is that it surely is not just the Enron story. It is becoming the American story.