Conflict Of Interest

The priest's homily this Friday morning consisted of how each of us, in our own sphere of employment, can do that good deed, make a difference. He said that if we are shopkeepers, we must charge a price that is affordable, and if we are employers we must pay a good wage and provide good working conditions to our employees, and so on.

What his homily lacked, I feel, is that realistic touch. He failed to acknowledge that conflict of interest that occurs. Is it realistic for a businessman to provide immpecable working conditions, pay a good wage and then charge low prices to keep customers happy? A good wage, which can differ in its definition as it is a relative topic, is insatiable in nature. Low prices mean non-existant profits. Both, evidently, cannot be carried out.

This conflict of interest is what a business every day strives to balance.

And in such a manner must we, too, balance the stakeholders in our lives.