Corruption and honesty
IN our culture, property rights and obligations are not sharply defined. Once in the States, I was with an American family in a park. Two of the little girls came complaining to the father about a toy airplane. The father asked: “Whose toy is it? If it is Colleen’s, then give it to Colleen.” In our family my mother’s question would have been: “Who is older? Then give the toy to the younger one. “Magparaya ka (a form of padaya ka.) Let yourself be cheated. He is younger and less able. Ownership of the toy is in the family. And the younger ones have priority.
But training for honesty must begin in the family. I remember my mother telling us the story of a man about to be executed in the electric chair for killing the owner of the house which he intended to rob. And one of his last wishes was to whisper something to his mother. When she approached to listen, he bit off her ear. And told her that if he had punished him when he stole from her pocketbook and when he stole from his classmate, he would not be in that situation. (The story may not be factual but the lesson was there.)
In school we also have to be told explicitly that we must not take what is not ours. In this way honesty is inculcated. But our culture of honesty was wrecked during the war. We looked the other way when people stole in order to survive.
We used to have a neighbor who was just a clerk in Manila City Hall but was most respected in our community. Mang Sinto was considered the elder to be consulted when there was any difficulty in the community. There was no hint of wrongdoing on his part. In contrast there was the sergeant in the infantry battalion in Mindanao who received bribes and extorted. His justification was since the general was receiving hot money, he was also entitled to his share of the loot. So the saying: “Be honest even if others are not “is important. There is some logic in the sergeant because his dishonest commander will not be able to prosecute him.
How to make people honest is a difficult undertaking. Of course the first way is by example. If the boss is honest, the others in his group will be encouraged by his example to resist temptation to be dishonest. Then what else? Of course the thought that there is a next life and that God will judge us at the end of time is watching all the time is critical. There is nothing that escapes His view and that at the end of this life, He will bring up all our good and bad works. It is therefore the most persuasive of reasons that God sees us all the time. If we can fool people some of the time we cannot fool them all of the time. But with God we cannot fool Him at any time. This can be a very powerful motive for honesty but we can shield ourselves from remembrance of this truth.
Of course we can rationalize that the evil that we do and the lies that we make may in the end be helpful to our fellow man; like Robin Hood who stole from the rich to give to the poor. But the end does not justify the means. If the means and the intentions are not good the end does not excuse the evil means or evil intentions.
Our dishonest culture may be blamed on the Church or on our leaders. Teaching is quite different from motivating. Both may be wanting. We have to teach what is right and motivate others to do what is right. Can you blame the Church or our leaders? To a certain extent you can. But blaming does not get us anywhere. The whole social fabric of the community suffers with dishonesty.
The culture of honesty must be fostered with good example, teaching, motivating, and the thought that the Almighty sees everything that we do. Be honest even if others are not. The Lord will reward actions of today. <emeterio_bqrcelon@yahoo.com>