Are You Honest? Don’t Be
It is an old adage that honesty is the best policy. But in modern times, we see the dishonest and the unscrupulous flourishing all around us. And what is more surprising is the fact that they do not usually meet their just deserts in the end. On the other hand, the honest few among us suffer lifelong for following this outdated policy.
Therefore, there should be a blend of honesty and discretion in our day-to-day life. If our own interests are harmed, we should not try to be unduly honest. If following the straight path harms our long-term interests, we should abandon this policy for some time because it is no use suffering all through our life because of following a policy that has outlived its utility in the modern world.
Dishonest people make progress and take giant strides in the accumulation of wealth, which ordinary people cannot do, in their whole life span. Only a few of the dishonest and unscrupulous people are hauled up in a court of law for perpetrating various scams but eventually they go Scot free, thereby proving that honesty is not always the best policy in the modern times.
Truth and honesty is the first casualty in modern times. Truthful and honest people are looked down upon as simpletons who are not well versed in the ways of the world. They are invariably ignored and trampled upon as the dishonest people prosper in life. Of what use is honesty as a policy if it cannot help us survive in this ruthless world? As a bookish maxim, it may be fine. But honesty cannot get us two square meals a day. The days of the honest woodcutter, who won’t accept the golden and the silver axes offered by the Water God when his old rusted iron axe had fallen into the river, sound an anachronism in modern times. In the mad race of grab-what-you-can, the dishonest woodcutter is at an advantage because he walks away with the golden, the silver and the iron axes in the end. Honesty is, therefore, not the best policy in the modern times.
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Boy it sure does seem like honesty cannot be found anywhere anymore, and the dishonest prosper with impunity. I’m still having nightmares about my last boss 17 months after I got fired from a for profit Methadone clinic here in the State of Alabama. My boss fired me suddenly one day and then reported to the unemployment agency that I’d just quit without notice (after 6 years with the company). I appealed my denial of benefits 4 times. Although this company had fired so many people that their unemployment costs were sky high, the agency ruled against me taking their word against mine every time. I was fired for making an issue out of the black mold we had in our ventilation ducts that was making staff and clients sick with bacterial pneumonia for the last 2 years I worked there. The owner didn’t want to clean the ducts because he didn’t want to spend the money. (Never mind he’s a multimillionaire who lives in the lap of luxury). The boss told us all to shut up about it or we’d be fired. Even the Safety Officer decided to shut up. He said the boss threatened to ruin his entire career if he contacted the EPA. Hanging posters, informing employees of their rights under the law, in the lunchroom, is just a farce! Later, several of us reported the mold and other health hazards in the clinic building to the EPA. We even filed Wcomplaints. The owner cleaned the vents as soon as he received notification of a pending investigation. Our Whistleblowers complaint was thrown out. The investigator couldn’t establish “beyond a reasonable doubt” that several of us were fired for making an issue about the black mold, and other numerous hazards, in our workplace. The boss, and several other upper management staff, signed statements that there had never been any mold present and that cleaning, like carpet cleaning are all professionally done. That was a bold faced lie. They fired the cleaning service and paid relatives of staff members, under the table, to clean the building. And they never used products designed to sanitize a health clinic. They swore the wall to wall carpet in all the offices were professionally cleaned once a year even though they had never been cleaned since being installed the year I was hired. When staff complained about dirty carpets and work stations, the boss told us that if we didn’t like it to clean it ourselves! But that’s not what they wrote in their sworn statements to the EPA. It was all a big joke and I was out of a job without being able to receive a penny of unemployment benefits. I guess the Safety Officer was right to keep his mouth shut because HE still has a job and a raise in pay. The rest of us were out of a job, and out of a good reference to boot, after all our years of hard work.