Many a time, people find themselves wondering what the barrier between Honesty and Dishonesty is. The truth is, the two are so sundry yet akin. It is quite glaringly obvious how drastically the superfluity of dishonesty is affecting businesses and other daily life activities in Nigeria and other Countries in the world. We; as humans, tend to turn a blind eye to how dishonesty is taking over our community.
WHAT IS HONESTY?
Honesty is a facet of moral characters that entails positive and virtuous qualities such as integrity, fairness, truthfulness, straightforwardness of conduct or in any form, along with absence of lying, cheating, theft, deception, etcetera.
WHAT IS DISHONESTY?
Dishonesty is used to describe a lack of uprightness, perfidy, mischievousness, deliberately, lying and withholding information, or being deliberately deceptive.
IN WHAT FORMS DO DISHONESTY EXIST?
It’s so saddening that many people around us refer to dishonesty as “hustling.” In the supply and demand market, so many persons have adapted, or rather, adopted fraudulent acts as requisite when doing business with others. As we all know, the act doesn’t just appear like a stubble overnight. It must have been lurking around in our minds, but nurturing it and giving it reins over us is completely our choice. And it is a feeling we all are vincible to: it’s a part of us. That’s what makes us humans. And it sure does come in different forms: lying, stealing, misleading, etcetera.
Lying is the most common one we all are susceptible to. Ranging from the harmless ‘I didn’t do it.’ to the grievous lies. We might not know it, but the smallest lie to us can cost others a lot. Be it money, knowledge, time, power, confidence, trust, and even lives, those being few inter alia.
Take for example, a younger child was left with her elder siblings while their parents went out for a while, but while the parents were out, the child probably fell and hit her head or other body part on the floor really hard. But since falls are considered a common thing amongst children, the child’s siblings agreed not to inform their parents about the fall when they got home. However, when the parents got home, they discovered that the child was cranky or reacting in pain when touched in certain body parts, they asked the older children what happened while they weren’t home, but the children told them, ‘nothing’. But after a day or two of them noticing no change in the child, they decided to take the child for a check up, and on getting to the hospital, they discovered that the child had sprained a body part or perhaps, had broken bones, or even worse, internal bleeding or head injury, and surgery might be needed to correct the defect. Probably, if the older children had come clean, solutions might have been devised quicker.
We might have heard stories of people with similar cases being rendered invalid; or worse, dead. The children’s harmless lie only worsened the situation. One might think, ‘It is only this once.’ But the truth is, once is starts, it tends to lead to more lies because it seems to never be able to stop. And also, the results might not be immediate but it would surely catapult right back later, with the same force, but, most times, double the force.
Deception is a factor that cannot go without lies. It relies solely on lies. Deceiving someone into believing what is not true is a common form of dishonesty these days. We might have been a victim of this or know someone who has. Some entrepreneurs who market via internet are prone to being deceptive. You might be asking yourself, ‘How?’ If you procure your goods through the internet, It’s a question you know the answer to. A while back, someone known to me bought some goods via a social media platform: she selected the particular ones she wanted, paid the full price for it and placed her order. She was even assured she would get exactly what she wanted with pictures to prove it. But upon delivery, not only were the goods incomplete, some were also not similar in any case to what she ordered. Now, if you think deeply about this scenario, you will see that not only had she been misled, but also lied to and stolen from. In my point of view, this is the highest form of dishonesty.
This particular form shatters any level of trust or respect someone has for the other person. It destroys relationships.
Now that we have a high and practical overview of what dishonesty encompasses, it’s time to move to the the crucial question.
How can we restrain dishonesty?
HOW WE CAN CURB DISHONESTY
Nowadays, People see and hear to believe. That is why most people like getting a referral before treading new territory. These are hard times for all, no one wants to waste what they have. First impression, they say, lasts longer. Those in the habit of being dishonest ignore the fact that after their dishonest ‘deed,‘ it is one person person lost, and probably more. But if we are honest, it is one person gained to building a great reputation and business.
From the scenario I gave about deception, if she wasn’t someone who believed in honesty and also is being driven by it when making decisions, she would have been lured to do so to another person.
So, think of it like this;
Mr. A thinks if he has successfully lied to or duped Mr. B, it ends there.
No! Mr. B who had been ‘scalded’ by Mr. B’s dubious acts might dim it fit to do the same or similar thing to Mr. C, who also might see it only typical to do so to Mr. D; and so, the cycle goes on and on, thereby, acting as a foundation for dishonesty growth, leaving trust annihilated.
In sincerity, Insincerity; if we notice, has a way of seeping into anything it touches, therefore, it “spreads like wildfire.” It (as we all know) is not limited to business dealings alone but is found in every aspect of our lifestyles.
So, the dishonesty that we might be deluded to think is ‘miniscule’ can grow large.
We all blame our government for hardships, but we all are our own problems.
We can start by making a change NOW!
It’s funny how the Honesty that we think is laced with a sprinkle of Dishonesty can turn into a glut of Dishonesty with a dash of Honesty or none at all.