When No One Is Watching (33 page)

Pat Jordan looked up and stared calmly at the distraught figure before him. “One thing Danny taught me is that no matter how bleak things get, no matter how badly we’ve screwed up, or how low we’ve sunk, life can be good again. We can do something meaningful with our lives.” Pat rose from the bench and picked up his bicycle. He put a hand on Blair’s shoulder as he walked past him. “You don’t need to be president to be a hero, Governor.” He rode off, head held high.

1. Through his political accomplishments, Blair Van Howe was able to make life better for thousands of people, perhaps even millions. Had he accepted responsibility for the accident at the outset, he probably would not have been able to do so, because he would not have been elected to public office. With that in mind, consider the following:
   

• Do Blair’s accomplishments in elected office, which truly served the greater good, justify his actions relating to the accident? Why or why not?
  
• Did Blair make the right decision in perpetrating the lie and the cover-up?
  
• Should the voting public have been willing to forgive the indiscretion in Blair’s personal life, given his track record of stellar public service since that time?
  
• If the voters honestly believed that Blair could do a better job than anyone else leading the nation as president, should he have been allowed to serve in that capacity?
  
• Does personal integrity really matter, or should we judge people solely on their accomplishments and contributions? Should our political leaders be held to a higher standard of personal integrity? Why or why not?
  

1. Is Blair a good man who made one very bad decision, or is he a fundamentally flawed person? Does the fact that he feels remorse throughout the story reveal anything about his heart or character? Does his confession to Danny absolve him of his guilt in any way?
   
2. How would Danny’s life have been different had it not been for the accident? Would he have been more of a “success?” How do you define a “successful” life?
   
3. Compare the impact Danny had on the world around him to the impact that Blair had. Who made a more significant difference?
   
4. What is a real-world hero? Do you see elements of heroism in Danny? Blair? Slazak? Allie? Judge Andy? Do you know any real-world heroes? What makes them special?
   
5. What people and/or events were most important in changing Danny’s life? What sorts of experiences are most commonly “life-changing?”
   
6. Do you believe that serious misfortune often serves as a catalyst for positive change in a person’s life? How or why does that happen? Luck? Fate? Divine Intervention? Determined effort brought on by recognition that change is imperative? Other reasons?
   
7. How would the lives of the McGraths, Morans, Van Howes and others have been different if Terry and Ashley McGrath had left home to pick up their puppy five minutes earlier than they did? Consider the fact that if Ashley had never been given her stuffed animal, they wouldn’t have spent time looking for it and would have left the house sooner. All these lives, perhaps even the presidency of the United States, were affected by the fact that someone gave Ashley that stuffed animal. Can you think of other instances where seemingly trivial events had profound impacts on the course of events? Give examples, from your personal life and the public arena. Why does this happen? Is it nothing more than pure chance?
   
8. Did Victor Slazak live a meaningful and successful life? Consider the following:
   

• Did he knowingly sacrifice his life? Did he do so to rescue Ashley McGrath? To get revenge against the evil cop?
  
• Slazak was the best at what he did, and yet he was not well liked, mostly because of his tendency to show disdain, intolerance, and impatience toward others, and because he simply didn’t care whether he was liked or not. Should this kind of attitude be tolerated in the workplace? Outside of the workplace? Can it be justified by exceptional results?
  
• Can you be a success in life if virtually no one likes you? If you have no close relationships whatsoever?
  
• Was Slazak a hero?
  

1. Consider this proposition: Most people are either inherently self-centered or inherently selfless at their very core. Do you agree? Are Danny and Blair examples of a truly selfless and a truly self-centered person, respectively? Why or why not? Was Danny always that way? Can a person change his/her nature from self-centered to selfless? Does that often happen in the real world?
   
2. While visiting Danny on his deathbed, Blair says to Danny, “I should come clean with this, shouldn’t I? That’s what you would do.” Do you think Blair would have come clean before the election if his conversation had not been overheard? Why or why not?
   
3. One of the lessons Danny taught T.J. was that having real integrity means doing the right thing at all times, even when no one is watching. What did Blair do when no one was watching? How about Danny? How do you think most politicians fare when measured by this yardstick? Provide examples of public figures who have demonstrated this type of integrity and examples of some who have not. Provide examples from your own experiences where someone did the right thing when no one was watching.
   
4. In this story, a single bad decision by Blair Van Howe had far-reaching and lifelong consequences. Can you think of examples of public figures who made the wrong choice when confronted with an ethical dilemma and then saw their lives profoundly impacted in a negative way? What about others who made the wrong choice and yet emerged from the situation unscathed? Why the difference?