How long can you stay ‘honest’?

by Prabuddha ATHUKORALA

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Honesty is the best policy”. All the famous philosophers, leaders and other eminent men have agreed and voiced the importance of being truthful. But, in this world where everyone is engaged in a rat race to overcome one another and reach materialistic heights one can question whether “Honesty” is given its due place in the society. Many instances can be quoted from the contemporary society.

Actually most of us start to cheat from our school days. If a group of children is interviewed and told to answer honestly, it would not be surprising to find that a large percentage would have cheated in examinations or assignments. Closer inspection reveals as much as the student, the system is also to be blamed. Since the current education structure is based on achieving the highest grades, by little ones are constantly under pressure from parents as well as teachers alike to be the best.

In some cases, being dishonest becomes almost a part of life that a few are on the look out for the next chance to beat the system and get away with it. In fact, some don’t even feel it as cheating and do it just for the thrill. Shoplifting is a fine example. Here, these thrill seekers always try to find ways to outsmart the security system.

Our fathers and grandfathers had huge respect for the place they worked for and made their living. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the present generations.

In reality, most employees feel once they are hired, the master is obliged to pay them irrespective of their work. As a result, it is not hard to find some of the staff taking leave pretending to be sick just because they are entitled to it. On extreme occasions proxy attendance is given, just because the mechanism in use cannot identifying the fraud.

Yet, there is another side to the story as well. Consider the case of having to hide the truth from a loved one or a family member to keep the relationship going.

Imagine the difficult situation when you are faced with, when a close family member asks about appearance.

Even though you feel things could be different, just to keep the other party happy you are compelled to hide the truth.

Similarly, a wife might lie about the cost of her spending on household items to the husband, because he might discourage such expenditure as unnecessary. Though, at the end there is a good chance that it is the husband who enjoys the comfort of so-called “less important” goods to a larger extent.

These are called white lies which supposedly don’t harm any party. Though, it is not nearly as bad as the previous cases of total deception, still it would be better avoided unless unavoidable.

At the same time, there is another group of people, who believe that manipulating the truth even by a very small margin is a crime.

A good friend of mine once got his employment visa rejected, and the reason was never mentioned. This meant that, all his future plans had to come to an end. Especially, considering the fact that this happened during the time of global recession made matters even worse as finding a new job was mighty tough. Of course, he always had the option of going to the same company and continuing work there as if nothing happened under the tourist visa. But, to his credit he was a true believer of “honesty is the best policy” and never considered the option of challenging the principles followed from childhood.

But, such stories are very rare in the modern society. And as the struggle to keep life rolling becomes tougher people will always be tempted to alter some facts. Even though a purist might say it as being dishonest, a closer look might reveal a totally different perception. Perhaps, that small lie was the source for his income for the day which in turn found bread and butter for his family.

Therefore, there is a very fine line and people will always debate that any form of cheating is not desirable, while some may refute saying a small white lie would not harm much.

Picture the next time you walk out of the supermarket and find that the cashier has undercharged your bill. A voice from the back of your consciousness says that your bill is already overpriced and this small mistake is justifiable.So would you go back to the cashier and make the alteration?

The choice is yours!