Alpha BHS

By: John Vespasian
When you were a kid at school, you probably endured lots of preaching about the virtue of flexibility. Most likely, the moral speeches you heard were accompanied by fulminating diatribes against rigidity. Imprecise is right and exact is boring, you were told. Weightlessness is strength and fragility is solidity.

In the terms of ethics, this leads to the enthronement of relativism as a moral absolute, which is, of course, absurd. Nowadays, if you watch a movie or an episode of a television series, you will rarely be able to escape the portrayal of fuzziness as sharpness. Ignorance is information. Confusion is wisdom.

On the other hand, look at what happens when we turn our attention from fiction to reality. When values and commitment lose their contours, life on earth becomes hell. If you doubt my words, talk to anyone who has lived for a while in a country where basic ethical principles have been abandoned.

* CONTRACTS ARE IGNORED. The stories that you read in newspapers about doing business in unstable countries only reflect a small part of the horror. Without people's willingness to keep their word, society simply disintegrates. Without enforceable contracts, all that remains are shady transactions and an extremely high cost of living.

* ABUSE BECOMES DOMINANT. Once ethics become dispensable, life turns into a race of cheating and abuse. If people begin to question fair, well-functioning agreements that have been long established, everything is up for grabs. When psychological manipulation becomes the currency of the day, any sort of purchase turns into a nightmare.

* WORKING HOURS GROW WITHOUT LIMIT. Productivity is always the first victim of moral decay. Without honesty, agreements on time, results, and compensation lose all meaning. Reliability and credibility are the best cost-reduction tools in business. When those two disappear, the effort needed to complete any task grows exponentially

All this is, at the same time, bad news and good news. Even if the media advocate moral relativism, you are not obliged to adopt vagueness as personal philosophy. Even if people around you behave dishonestly, you can decide to stay dependable and truthful.

A wise man seeks compromise in negotiations, but only when essential moral principles are left untouched. Reality is forgiving of innocent mistakes, but merciless with those who twist facts and corrupt their soul.

Your peace of mind and self-confidence depend on your rational principles. Stick to them and they will show you the way. For the sake of your present happiness and future health, reject temptation and pass the test. Even if your environment deteriorates, your life can still remain at its best.

JOHN VESPASIAN writes about rational living. He has resided in New York, Madrid, Paris, and Munich. His stories reflect the values of entrepreneurship, tolerance, and self-reliance. See John Vespasian's blog about rational living.

http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com/