Summary: The parable of the Sadhu

Section D
Group 1
PGP/20/193
PGP/20/194

The article is written by Bowen H. McCoy, a managing director of Morgan Stanley Co., Inc.,
and President of Morgan Stanley Realty, Inc. The article describes a hiking trip that Mr.
McCoy and his friend Stephen undertook in Nepal. They were joined by groups of
individuals from Japan, New Zealand, and Switzerland, and local Nepali Porters and Sherpas.
These people from different countries didnt know each other, but all had a common goal of
climbing a mountain peak and reach a village named Muklinath.
On the way, they find a sadhu who is shivering in cold, is naked and barefoot. They are
unsure of what to do further. They wrapped him in clothing, gave him food and water, and
also checked his pulse. A few members of the group broke off to help move the sadhu down
toward a village two days journey away, but they soon left him in order to continue their way
up the slope. Stephen and the Swiss people took him about 500 feet below, where he was able
to walk and was also throwing stones at the one of the Japanese dogs. After returning from
the trip, McCoy and his friend Stephen indulge in a conversation. Stephen argues that it was
wrong on their part to just pass the buck to others, while McCoy believed that everyone had
done their fair bit to help the Sadhu. Although after the conversation, even McCoy doubted
himself, and was in an ethical dilemma. How, asks McCoy in a broader context, do we
prepare our organizations and institutions so they will respond appropriately to ethical crises?