Mark Twain quipped that one should always try to do the right thing, because "it will gratify some people and astonish the rest."
If only the International Olympic Committee, which long ago lost its capacity to amaze when it comes to moral probity, could tap an as-yet undiscovered ethical reserve and meaningfully confront the crooked edifice that is state-sponsored Russian doping.
Given the IOC's past, that is likely a forlorn hope, but we are willing and eager to be surprised.
This week, the World Anti-Doping Agency delivered a hopeful sign by refusing to re-certify RUSADA, Russia's drug-testing watchdog.
In 2015, a German documentary based on insider athlete accounts yanked aside the curtain to reveal a sophisticated and vast government-directed cheating program within RUSADA.
Last year, its former head tester, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, sketched the scheme out in detail – details that were subsequently confirmed by an investigation led by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren. The evidence is overwhelming.
RUSADA has since submitted to audits and sundry forms of scrutiny. Though progress has apparently been made, a lot of good reasons remain for refusing to declare RUSADA's facilities compliant.
In the Olympic realm, that's not always a barrier to absolution.
But one of the key rationales behind the WADA decision is Russia's continued refusal to admit guilt and provide unfettered access to its testing facilities.
And so now the IOC board will gather Dec. 5 to discuss what sanctions should be levied, if any.
The right thing to do, of course, would be to turn the Russian delegation away at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics next February.
Unfortunately, the scramble to find suitable fig leafs for not doing so seems to already be in full swing.
There are reports that IOC head Thomas Bach is looking at compromise solutions – a significant fine, perhaps – that would allow Russia to participate, presumably in exchange for a mea culpa.
Others have proposed letting athletes who submit to strict testing compete as neutrals. Russian President Vladimir Putin is said to be opposed to the idea and could threaten to boycott the Winter Games.
History tells us Olympic officials are inordinately sensitive to such threats and the financial implications that go with them.
But this is an opportunity to strike a blow for fair play and redefine a brand associated with cravenness and corruption. The IOC should stop averting its gaze, and do the right thing.