An honest world?

I know, I know, that's how all of you behave all of the time. That's why the world is such a wonderful place. I hate to be the one to have to ask, but are you really being honest about it?

Honesty, it turns out, is a bigger problem that we think. It's obvious that some companies produce knowingly low-quality, even dangerous products. We've seen how dishonest business and banking can be. We know that people cheat on their taxes, knowingly cut corners, don't exactly lie but also don't tell the whole story, and we have all experienced that twinge of conscience at telling even what we would like to think are white lies. There are so many opportunities during the day to "fail" in this regard, you sometimes have to ask yourself why you even try. I know that you aren't any different than me in this regard, and all I think we need to do about immediately is consciously try to do it less and less. Honesty is the best policy, and why shouldn't we try to do our best?

Being cheated, gipped, pulled over the table, conned ... these are awful feelings. The people who do such things are certainly not living up to their own potential. But does that justify us to seek vengeance or to simply set matters straight? What is more, why is our default assumption about strangers and others that they are knowingly and consciously trying to take advantage of us?

It is clear to me - I'm realist enough - to know that there are people who haven't even started with the sorting-things-out in their immediate environments, but the question is whether we need to fight fire with fire. I don't think so. Did it ever occur to you to simply say "no" if you feel you're being pressured into something you don't want to do, be it from our spouse, our significant other, our children, parents or the insurance salesman? Why can't we just say "no" when we feel we are being asked to do something we really don't want to do?

We can't assume that everyone is not going to do to us what they wouldn't want done to them. By the same token, we don't have to lower ourselves to that level either. We need to be more awake, more conscious, more aware of what we do, but also what is being done with, or to, ourselves. And when it is not to our liking, when it doesn't fit into how we would like the world to be, we have one simple option.

Just say "no".