The Amputated Spirit

 When you claim to uphold British values, just stop and think again. What are you really doing to achieve that? Saying it and repeating it is certainly not the way to go about it. You will have to be a leader and a good example to follow. You may not always think it is possible to achieve this especially in an environment where you have no control over society or government but to go out of your way to promote actively - in your own institution - the principles that your country has raised you to reflect on and question is something that has no value whatsoever. Failing to do so, instead of being an example to follow, you serve as a warning to everyone around you.

Actively intimidating your staff to snitch on their colleagues is not what one calls a sign of a healthy relationship. To threaten - even indirectly through HR - their jobs and their integrity is the lowest one could go to protect their delicate positions in any organisation where the values are to instill independent thinking and create future citizens and leaders. 

Some will see in the speech below from Scent of a Woman film similarities between what was fiction then and reality now. It seems that there are lots of Mr Trask who walk amongst us whether they know it or not.

 

"Mr. Simms, I will give you one final opportunity to speak up.

Mr. Simms doesn't want it.

He doesn't need to be labeled..."still worthy of being a Baird man."

What the hell is that? What is your motto here?

"Boys, inform on your classmates, save your hide; anything short of that, we're gonna burn you at the stake"? Well, gentlemen, when the shit hits the fan, some guys run...and some guys stay.

Here's Charlie facin' the fire, and there's George...hidin' in big daddy's pocket. And what are you doin'? You're gonna reward George...and destroy Charlie. I don't know who went to this place. William Howard Taft, William Jennings Bryant, William Tell, whoever. Their spirit is dead, if they ever had one. It's gone.

You're buildin' a rat ship here, a vessel for seagoin' snitches.

And if you think you're preparin' these minnows for manhood, you better think again, because I say you are killin' the very spirit... this institution proclaims it instills. What a sham.

What kind of a show are you guys puttin' on here today? I'm here to tell you this boy's soul is intact. It's non-negotiable. 

You know how I know? Someone here, and I'm not gonna say who, offered to buy it. - Only Charlie here wasn't sellin'. 

- Sir, you're out of order.

I show you out of order.

You don't know what out of order is, Mr. Trask.

I'd show you, but I'm too old, I'm too tired, too frickin' blind.

Out of order ? Who the hell you think you're talkin' to? I've been around, you know? There was a time I could see. And I have seen. Boys like these, younger than these, their arms torn out, their legs ripped off. But there is nothin' like the sight... of an amputated spirit. There is no prosthetic for that. You think you're merely sendin' this splendid foot soldier...back home to Oregon with his tail between his legs, but I say you are... executin' his soul! And why? Because he's not a Baird man.

Baird men. You hurt this boy, you're gonna be Baird bums, the lot of you.

Stand down, Mr. Slade!

I'm not finished. As I came in here, I heard those words: "cradle of leadership."

Well, when the bough breaks, the cradle will fall, and it has fallen here. It has fallen.

Makers of men, creators of leaders. Be careful what kind of leaders you're producin' here.

I don't know if Charlie's silence here today...is right or wrong; I'm not a judge or jury.  But I can tell you this: he won't sell anybody out... to buy his future! And that, my friends, is called integrity. That's called courage. Now that's the stuff leaders should be made of.

Now I have come to the crossroads in my life. I always knew what the right path was. Without exception, I knew, but I never took it. You know why? It was too damn hard.

Now here's Charlie. He's come to the crossroads. He has chosen a path. It's the right path. It's a path made of principle...that leads to character. Let him continue on his journey. You hold this boy's future in your hands, Committee. It's a valuable future, believe me.

Don't destroy it. Protect it. Embrace it. It's gonna make you proud one day, I promise you."