Values (Costs) Honesty and Integrity

Hi Everyone,

        Honesty and Integrity... Two moral values that have been taught since humans were evolved from the animalistic stone age centuries ago. We all teach our children growing up to be honest and hold their integrity in life. But, do the society truly respect honesty and integrity?

        Some people will be able to relate to what I am about to say. How many times have we heard that what separate one from being successful or not to the top is their ruthless skill? Yes, persistence is a crucial factor in one's success. However, if you persist to be honest and hold your integrity, you may not get to the top. 

         I know from my own experience and being direct witness of others' experience that honesty can mean nothing. I mean... how many of us have gone to job interviews and answered their questions honestly only to be disregarded because they assumed otherwise? Is it only me? How come when you tell someone you really are interested in the role and that you know you'll enjoy it, they choose to believe otherwise by saying you may get bored? What about in a relationship where you tell your partner you are upset about something and instead of finding solutions, they tell you that you're upset about other things and just using this particular matter as an excuse?

        Why do people assume someone else's thoughts and who someone is over that person's own description? What good can come out of it? Honest people's words mean nothing and liers are gambling if their lies may be taken truthfully. When do enthusiasm and dedication to your work mean nothing?

        It broke my heart when my very close friend (who's a very good person who's helped me a lot) told me to create a fake resume just so I can get any jobs (from cleaner to corporate manager) to survive the most basic needs in life. To make it worse, I was told that I'm an idiot who can only whinge about hardly surviving all because of my stupid moral ground while everyone else survives by lying and faking it. Sadly, he's not completely wrong. As I've mentioned in my experience of telling the truths about my work history that has been wrecked by the economy crisis, only to be assumed differently by recruiters/interviewers. Moreover, good references who can confirm your truths don't even hold any values anymore...

        We're speaking out loud about the importance of confidence and self esteem in being who we are. We're teaching our children to hold the moral values of honesty, integrity, hard work, dedication, and so on. Yet, in life many of us practise anything but these values, many of us get jealous of people who are confident (unfortunately it's mostly within the same gender) and do what we can (consciously or subconsciously) to destroy their success. Our children grow up only to be surprised about how meaningless honesty, integrity, hard work can be in the society compared to what they're taught growing up and forced to confirm to how society make them, often... just to survive another day in this life. 

        Now... some of you may deny things I've said in this article either because you have had the better part of society and life in general or because you choose to believe that your lies are white lies or your assumptions & less-than-kind treatments of others are justified. A small fraction of you will nod your heads in agreement with me. To all of you, I can only ask that you reflect on these questions:

What's the point of lying if people will assume what they want about you anyway? Why not keep telling the truths and gamble if they will trust you?

What's the point of assuming other people's thoughts or force them to compromise themselves (indirectly of course, through manipulations and emotional black mail) and break their self-esteem just to confirm to your own (or the surrounding society)? Why create or embrace liers who may betray you? Why don't appreciate honesty and others' integrity that will benefit your business/company or relationship? Isn't it easier to dismiss those who turn out to be dishonest?