Professur
Well-Known Member
How valuable is the truth today? Can you believe anyone anymore? Should you? Should you even bother to tell the truth yourself? Will anyone believe you if you did?
These are all questions rattling around in my head. Questions I can't seem to get a solid answer to. Once upon a time, a man's honour was important. When he said, "You have my word on it.", that was as good as done. Today, unless you have it in writing, signed and notarized, you'd better be wary. And even then, you might get screwed by a loophole. Or the courts might throw the entire document out as invalid. When did the truth become as devalued as the ruble?
I once had a discussion with JJR512 over the value of truth. I'd said I wasn't going to give up the SETI program until I'd done 1000WU. He couldn't grasp the concept that I'd hold to what I'd said when everyone else was migrating to the G&H program. The idea that, regardless of how valuable or invaluable the data might be, I was going to do what I'd said was inconceivable to him. Noone was going to get hurt if I didn't follow through. Noone would lose any money. Noone would even know.
But I'd know. I stuck it out. Not for SETI. Not for the JJR512 SETI team. For me. Because I said I'd do it.
Why, you might ask? I profit nothing from it. I might have gotten even higher in the G&H program if I had changed right away. I might have made it to the Top5, even. It's because I don't lie. It's not worth it to me.
I have a strict moral code. It's not imposed on me by religion. Or by a false sense of my own importance. It's not forced on me at all. I choose to live by it. I choose not to lie for convience. I have made my honesty a badge of pride. And I have been rewarded for it. My customers know, beyond any doubt, that I won't lie to them. And they appreciate it. It makes their jobs easier. And so, they come back. My prices aren't the best. In fact, I'm quite costly. They come back anyways.
My wife knows that I don't lie. And she appreciates it. She knows that, if I said I worked late, I did. If I said I spend the money on something, it's in the toolshed. And if I say, "I love you" I'm not just talking outta my ass.
Once a man's word was his bond. A handshake could seal a deal. Back when the world was small and you knew your neighbour. When shame was a punishment, and overweening pride a sin. When it was accepted that you should be proud of what you'd done in life. Not what you'd accumulated.
Today, the world is a much changed place. Many people don't even know the person living in the house next to them. Yet they chat all night with people thousands of miles away. People they'll never meet. Today, cheats, scoundrels, and lowlifes prosper. Cheating a client gets you a promotion. Getting away with a crime is a badge of pride. Spouses cheat on each other. Divorce isn't even seen as a breach of contract anymore. Car salesmen, mechanics, and lawyers are accepted as liars. Doctors and priests, once the most trusted people, are being caught violating that trust. I won't even send my kids to the park unsupervised.
Today, an honest man is something to be feared. To be ridiculed. Those about him search for his flaws, his failing. They parade them around, to show all that this honest man is not perfect. They attempt to drag him down to their level. When they should be striving to achieve his. Too much work, they cry. Too hard. Why should we work to improve ourselves, when noone else will. They fail to realize that that's exactly why they must try.
Perhaps it's an inherent flaw in the makeup of man. It seems that through the ages, whenever man attempts to rise above the level of animals, he reaches a certain level, and collapses like a house of cards. Egypt, Rome, Greece, all fell. Is our civilization next? And if we go, then what? With the world economy dependant on the west to drive its markets, will the entire world collapse with us?
I choose to obey the laws and rules of civilization. The written and unwritten ones. The spoken and unspoken. For without those rules, and laws, anarchy reigns. And for those who thing that anarchy is cool, you are so very wrong.
These are all questions rattling around in my head. Questions I can't seem to get a solid answer to. Once upon a time, a man's honour was important. When he said, "You have my word on it.", that was as good as done. Today, unless you have it in writing, signed and notarized, you'd better be wary. And even then, you might get screwed by a loophole. Or the courts might throw the entire document out as invalid. When did the truth become as devalued as the ruble?
I once had a discussion with JJR512 over the value of truth. I'd said I wasn't going to give up the SETI program until I'd done 1000WU. He couldn't grasp the concept that I'd hold to what I'd said when everyone else was migrating to the G&H program. The idea that, regardless of how valuable or invaluable the data might be, I was going to do what I'd said was inconceivable to him. Noone was going to get hurt if I didn't follow through. Noone would lose any money. Noone would even know.
But I'd know. I stuck it out. Not for SETI. Not for the JJR512 SETI team. For me. Because I said I'd do it.
Why, you might ask? I profit nothing from it. I might have gotten even higher in the G&H program if I had changed right away. I might have made it to the Top5, even. It's because I don't lie. It's not worth it to me.
I have a strict moral code. It's not imposed on me by religion. Or by a false sense of my own importance. It's not forced on me at all. I choose to live by it. I choose not to lie for convience. I have made my honesty a badge of pride. And I have been rewarded for it. My customers know, beyond any doubt, that I won't lie to them. And they appreciate it. It makes their jobs easier. And so, they come back. My prices aren't the best. In fact, I'm quite costly. They come back anyways.
My wife knows that I don't lie. And she appreciates it. She knows that, if I said I worked late, I did. If I said I spend the money on something, it's in the toolshed. And if I say, "I love you" I'm not just talking outta my ass.
Once a man's word was his bond. A handshake could seal a deal. Back when the world was small and you knew your neighbour. When shame was a punishment, and overweening pride a sin. When it was accepted that you should be proud of what you'd done in life. Not what you'd accumulated.
Today, the world is a much changed place. Many people don't even know the person living in the house next to them. Yet they chat all night with people thousands of miles away. People they'll never meet. Today, cheats, scoundrels, and lowlifes prosper. Cheating a client gets you a promotion. Getting away with a crime is a badge of pride. Spouses cheat on each other. Divorce isn't even seen as a breach of contract anymore. Car salesmen, mechanics, and lawyers are accepted as liars. Doctors and priests, once the most trusted people, are being caught violating that trust. I won't even send my kids to the park unsupervised.
Today, an honest man is something to be feared. To be ridiculed. Those about him search for his flaws, his failing. They parade them around, to show all that this honest man is not perfect. They attempt to drag him down to their level. When they should be striving to achieve his. Too much work, they cry. Too hard. Why should we work to improve ourselves, when noone else will. They fail to realize that that's exactly why they must try.
Perhaps it's an inherent flaw in the makeup of man. It seems that through the ages, whenever man attempts to rise above the level of animals, he reaches a certain level, and collapses like a house of cards. Egypt, Rome, Greece, all fell. Is our civilization next? And if we go, then what? With the world economy dependant on the west to drive its markets, will the entire world collapse with us?
I choose to obey the laws and rules of civilization. The written and unwritten ones. The spoken and unspoken. For without those rules, and laws, anarchy reigns. And for those who thing that anarchy is cool, you are so very wrong.
