The most persistent and egregious problem we face today, actually, we have always faced it, is unethical and immoral behavior. The distrust and fear it breeds cripples and severely stifles production and efficiency in every facet of every society.
Every individual will publicly say that they abhor unethical and immoral behavior from our business and political leaders. These same individuals will tell you that those who abuse our trust in them should be removed from their position and punished.
We will all, at some point in our lives, find ourselves in a situation where our moral and ethical character is tested. I have met and spoken with thousands of people in my short life on this planet, and I can tell you that the vast majority of them are down to earth, good hearted people who would not think to screw over a friend. A few others, not so much. I can’t speak for how they will treat someone they don’t know but I have read many accounts where people have screwed over someone (or even committed murder) and then their friends say they can’t believe their friend would do this. So, what are we left to believe? Some people may pass a test of their moral character but succumb to constant and repeated tests. Very few will pass every time. So prevalent is this unethical and immoral behavior that we all know of some untrustworthy person.
If we are truly honest with ourselves we will recognize that the potential to be immoral or unethical is present in all of us. Such is the nature of the human being.
To protect ourselves from being taken advantage of, whether by politicians, business people, or friends, some of us never put ourselves in a position to trust them. Unfortunately, we cannot go through life without trusting at least one or some of these people. So, to keep an eye on our politicians and business executives we hire other people to oversee them, supposedly to prevent them from committing, or at least, getting away with committing, unethical and immoral behavior.
When these people who are being scrutinized commit unethical and immoral behavior, as they seemingly always eventually do, and then get caught we call for some sort of punishment for their wrongdoing that should also serve as a deterrent against future ethical and moral breeches from others. Yet invariably the punishment is toned down by the very people we hire to carry out the punish which results in leniency for committing what cripples us the most. The end result is that there is no real deterrent therefore the unethical and immoral behavior continues.
The root of this behavior, the driving force, always centers around money and power.
These two goals: to have more money than you can possibly spend, and to be the most powerful (whether it be over other people or over property), are the two most corruptible forces we will ever be faced with. We don’t possess the ability to obtain power and money, it possesses us.
Why do we continue to play the game of pretending to be ethical and moral to get ourselves into a position where we will be caught abusing ethics and moral standards? Simply put, because we are all we have. Sad to say, there is no methodology or deterrent that will prevent greed from rearing its ugly head and taking down another seemingly once moral and ethical person.
Why do we allow our principles to be compromised so easily? Why do we bow down to these masters? Any explanation we can come up with will only serve to become a rationalization which will further allow this behavior to continue. Each of us needs to constantly remind ourselves that empathy in relation to others peoples’ trust and money must be the rule for our conduct. We need to ask ourselves, if this was my money and someone else stole it from me how would I feel, instead of thinking how can I take this money without getting caught.
The motto “do unto others before they do unto you” has replaced “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Why? I don’t know. But stealing from someone because a third party stole from you does not balance anything. That behavior simply feeds an evil society that no one can possibly live in peace with.
We sell our souls to have more than what we have worked for. This moral dilemma can only be addressed at the individual level. And therein lies the problem. So far, we are doing a pretty miserable job at policing ourselves. The recent default of the economic situation plus the last eight years of the Bush administrations’ wholesale sell-off of corporate America and invading a sovereign nation based on lies, as well as a whole host of other atrocities and attacks on our personal freedoms should serve as enough proof.
If the predictions are correct, our economy is going to get worse before it gets better. This is going to create more pressure on us to be on guard against unscrupulous individuals who would rather steal from us than try to get by on what they have worked for. In the meantime, please remember that we are all suffering. Don’t make it worse on someone else just improve your position. You will only be breeding more hate and fear.
No comments:
Post a Comment