later, thinking about previous blog entry....
would like to tell a couple stories to dramatize my point on honesty
being a problem here....
a few weeks back my worker told me a story...
I've been stressing honesty as a topic with him...
And he tells me he went to Drake Bay with a friend, and they stopped
for coffee, and he was looking at a display of silver ear rings and
jewelry, and noticed the propietor was busy and not paying attention
to the open display.....
He commented to his friend who was familiar with the area that it was
strange the display was open air, and the owner not watching like a
hawk... that it would be easy for someone to steal items.....
His friend then informed him that theft was rare in the area, people
didnt steal like is common in other parts of Costa Rica, and that
there was also a high number of Americans in the local population,
and that it was an area of low crime due to the two factors, my
worker was amazed, enough to come tell me the story....
The same worker told me another story about a year ago.... He was
talking to the Forestry engineer working for Minae the parks &
environmental dept.
And he asks the engineer if he knew an honest lawyer to do property
title work, and the government engineer who works with all the lawyers
in the area responds; "There are no honest lawyers in Costa Rica."
now to put this into context, one needs to know that lawyer jokes have
never made it to CR yet....
The guy was telling him a fact as he saw it.......
A third story; I recently personally witnessed a lawyer from Ciudad
Neily who I have had past dealings/problems with, do a successful
extortion of american citizens who bought a farm next to land he
owned... the extortion had zero legal grounds, but rather than have
the problem, the lawyer was paid off, and dropped a bogus lawsuit
that had zero chance of winning... the local legal system was fully
aware it was extortion, and played a nice bit of legal theater.....
same legal offices that recently were featured online in a case where
an american land owner was beaten with guns in the face & body, by
squatters, and the legal system did nothing.....
I personally have had many years of history with the exact same
courthouse, and know them to be beyond useless..... and its not just
for americans...
Just last week in a conversation on the bus, I mentioned the
courthouse by name, and said it needed fumigating, and made machine
gun motions with my hands, and saw a dozen Costa Ricans nod in
unison..... in fact, ticos warned me years ago not to expect any good
to come out of the place.. they were exactly right.. I will not go
into that story to protect my identity...
I would also like to say that if any Costa Rican government department
reads this blog and becomes un happy, that I advise you start a
national campaign to promote honesty... dont get pissed at me, you
know I am telling the truth here.... I suggest you use the television
station in a campaign like was used to combat littering so common a
dozen years back.... put honesty on the national agenda.... work at
it, you can make a difference.....
In a dishonest village, no one escapes the dishonesty.
In an Honest village everyone benefits....
What Ticos do via dishonesty to foriegners, is nothing in comparison
to what they do to each other....
Its been a benefit to me to live in a society more dishonest than what
I used to preceive as normal...
Why? because after years of getting ripped off here I began to
question those preceptions, and had to admit that my own culture wasnt
as honest as I been led to believe... Also being an outsider in
another culture allowed me to observe the effects... and how bad
things get due to common dishonesty... then I had to think about my
own episodes of dishonesty.... Ouch! and it led to a form of at least
semi-enlightenment.... then with readings in the tao, buddha's
teachings, jesus's teachings, it finally dawned on me that this has
been one of the main curses of humanity since before written
history.... And that I had made contrbutions to the problem....
not good......
and so now I strive to be as honest as possible...
which isnt an easy path to walk, but its the best path, and the only
one with much hope...
Why is the world going to shit rapidly?
Dishonesty... Caused by two things; egocentric thinking, and thinking
its hidden and nobody will know....
Well, everybody knows, everybody suffers from it, but few make any
grand realizations about it, and even less make any attempt to clean
up their village by cleaning themselves...
anyway, I could tell plenty more local horror stories, but I wont
bother... I'm sure every human could think a short while and come up
with a long list of dishonesty they've been witness to, or been the
offending party of.......
We really do need to rethink ourselves.....
our collective dishonesty is getting worse, and along with it so is
the world. and its not going to get any better until we all do start
working on our parts in the problem....
Just because politicians and business are dishonest, its not a good
reason to be dishonest ourselves.... but it is a very good reason to
struggle even harder to be even more honest ourselves... because the
more honest we are, the more honest our societies become, and the
more we realize we HAVE to get rid of the problem to survive on this
earth...
personal dishonesty is a form of social suicide.....
It operates collectively to bring entire cultures to ruin....
currently its bringing all humanity to the very gates of hell, and
the gate is wide open and waiting eagerly for us..... so just keep
walking the way of dishonesty.....
Or change paths.... and have at least a little hope...
no honesty, no hope...
how can dishonest people who make up a dishonest culture expect their
leadership to be any better? cultures tend to reflect the dishonesty
of their leaders, but the leaders are also reflecting the dishonesty
of the people...
if you want better children, become a better parent...
if you want a better world, become a better citizen in it...
If you want to be able to overcome the gates of hell, first you must
overcome dishonesty in yourself.
And the bible talks about the survivors who are drafted by the
skygods being able to prevail against the gates of hell....
A good scout is honest......
if I ever have the good misfortune to answer to the sky gods about
honesty, I plan to say I am not perfect, but I have learned the value
of honesty, and I will tell the truth against the world, and if
necessary the truth against even the sky gods....
And if they dont like that, its their problem, and they arent who they
think they are...
and the question we need to be thinking about,and asking ourselves,
is; "Are we, who we think we are?"
I dont think so... Do you?.
--
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