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Several other characteristic Quaker beliefs are placing a high value on simplicity, and on speaking and living the truth. For example, Quakers refuse to swear to anything, even at a trial or for a marriage license, because it implies that at other times one might not tell the truth. Being practical and “grounded” are Quaker values that discourage otherworldly or naïve thinking. As a general rule, Quakers don’t proselytize or even talk very much about their religion. They believe that their lives should speak of their convictions.

Quaker values can interact with business priorities in many ways, mostly positive, but some potentially negative as well. For example, because Quakers didn’t limit their business contacts to the highest social echelon, they found opportunities for more customers and a wider circle of business associates. As Quaker women developed leadership skills, their ingenuity contributed to the success of Quaker businesses. Quaker businesses put a high value on providing products that truly add value for consumers, rather than devising ways to trick them into buying something. In the days before Consumer Reports, people saw many advantages to doing business with Quakers, because it was widely known that they wouldn’t cheat you. Since Quakers were known to try to seek the truth regardless of the cost to themselves or whether the news was welcome, their word was trusted. Of course, being honest didn’t prevent Quakers from being shrewd business people.

But although Quakers tend to be highly ethical, they can also be somewhat naïve. Consensus decision-making can be far too slow and unwieldy for some decisions, and it runs a risk that people will feel coerced by the groups into settling for less than they want. Rather than making everyone responsible, it can end up making no one responsible. Even people with an Inner Light can behave badly. “Speaking truth to power,” to use the common catch-phrase for Quakers, can either increase long-run credibility or can be a cover for venting harsh feelings at inappropriate times.

My mother has told me that she married my father partially because he had been raised Quaker and was comfortable with strong, independent women. During my senior year at college, I was disheartened to find that many men of my own age found me intimidating. It was also a time when my mother was diagnosed with serious and potentially life-threatening breast cancer. Now I’m happily married, and my mother has at least survived the chemotherapy, but I still keep and reread a letter I received from my father that year about the strong women in my family. Here’s an excerpt.

“Let’s start with this generalization: highly articulate, handsome, intelligent women are not terribly rare. No doubt you yourself have many friends that would easily fit such categorization. But if you add two further adjectival phrases, then such women are rare indeed. Namely, passionate commitment and courageous. (I’m willing to concede that these may even be redundant…they, in your case, certainly go together). Obviously these same characteristics are very rare in men too.
“The problem arises primarily for women. These characteristics scare the bejabbers out of others…they may be admired by some, vilified by others, and wholly misunderstood by the majority. But even本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。