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... McCoy, 61 (5) The Parable of the Sadhu, Harvard Business Review 103 (September/October, 1983)]. ...
In "The Parable of the Sadhu," McCoy describes efforts of he and his companion, Stephen, an anthropologist, accompanied by a group of climbers, to traverse an 18,000-foot peak in order to reach the village of Muklinath, an ancient holy place. ... He dumped the almost naked, barefoot body of an Indian holy man--a sadhu--at my feet. ...
I took a carotid pulse and found that the sadhu was still alive. ... The sadhu was soon clothed from head to foot. ... I inquired about the sadhu and Stephen. They said that the sadhu was fine and that Stephen was just behind. ... "Is the sadhu dead? ... " After I had gone, and the Swiss had departed not long after, Stephen had remained with the sadhu. When the Japanese had arrived, Stephen had asked to use their horse to transport the sadhu down to the hut. ... He had then asked Pasang to have a group of our porters carry the sadhu. ... The Sherpas had carried the sadhu down to a rock in the sun at about 15,000 feet and had pointed out the hut another 500 feet below. ...
We do not know if the sadhu lived or died. ...
McCoy explains that he was deeply troubled by his decision to leave the sadhu behind after providing minimal care. ... He puzzles over his failure to provide more care for the sadhu. McCoys "parable", not unlike those found in the Bible, has a moral message, but parables dont serve up their messages in flashing lights. ...
McCoys "parable" teaches, not only because it offers what McCoy calls a "classic moral dilemma," but is told in the form of a compelling story. McCoy offers, in his reflections on his encounter with the sadhu, some instructive clues about how ethics works. ... " [Huff, at 50]
McCoy, off the mountain, begins to see that he had a duty (of some sort) to provide better care for the sadhu. ... McCoy puzzles over the fact that his ethics failed him up on the mountain in his encounter with the sadhu. ... It was, says McCoy, Stephens moral vision that helped him know, in ways that he did not, that they had a duty to care for the sadhu, and that whatever reason they might have for continuing the Nepal climb and traversing an 18,000--foot peak was morally insufficient to abandon the sadhu. Stephen claims that they had failed to provide adequate care for the sadhu and attributed their failure to an unwillingness to assume personal responsibility in past because the sadhu was so unlike themselves in appearance. ... ]
McCoy, trying to draw out the lessons from the encounter with the sadhu suggests that it is the mistakes we make about purposes and goals that block our moral vision.
Approximate Word count = 2898
Approximate Pages = 11.6
(250 words per page double spaced)
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