Page 46 - How We Lead Matters

Gerbils for Sale

“We won!” shouted my youngest daughter, Wendy. What we “won” was the
privilege of taking care of the third grade’s gerbil family over the summer. We
set them up in the laundry room, where they soon began giving birth. Within
weeks, we had habitat trails running up and down the laundry room counter-
tops. The day my favorite blouse came down the clothes chute—one sleeve
falling into the gerbil pen and quickly being annihilated—was the day I
knew I had to take action.
I called the pet store to inquire what might humanely be done. “Are
you the gerbil lady?” the store clerk asked, explaining that they already had
a preferred supplier. Armed with this insider information, I called the next
pet store and identified myself as a gerbil supplier. (Well, in a sense I was.) It
so happened they were low. When I arrived, the store manager commented
that he thought my “crop” looked a little weak-eyed and asked if there had
been inbreeding. But he’d take them at a reduced price. Afraid that he would
back out of the deal if I gave them to him free, I . . . I . . . I took the money.
As heads of business, government, and even households, we are called
upon to be successful and lawful and moral. It is a heavy burden, to be sure.
There’s always the danger that an action in the gray zone will result in a win
that leads to the next incremental “creep” in judgment.
In my lifetime, I occasionally have wandered into the gray zone. I know
I’m there whenever I sense that same uneasiness I felt in the pet store. I just
hope I always draw the line at gerbils.

Marilyn Carlson Nelson 29