It is very easy to find people or things to get mad at. It almost seems like this is becoming the new national pastime. We are mad at airline ticket pricing opacity and politicians and school boards and cell phone carriers and just about everyone else in between. We seem to be mad at the rich and the poor. Doping athletes and gender inequality. The list could go on and on. But, why is this the case? What common thread runs through most of the “things” that we get mad about or worried about or jealous about? I believe that a lack of honesty is generally at its core. And this lack of honesty started somewhere….and that place was inside each of us. We need to be honest in order to see honesty reflected in companies and politicians and celebrities and fiscal policy.
Does eating low fat food or exercising seven minutes a day or simply taking a pill seem like an honest way to maintain healthy bodies? That fat went somewhere, industry is not going to throw it out, it ends up in more cheese for example. Eat a balanced diet, get regular exercise, walk more and drive less, get good sleep, don’t ingest unhealthy media….this is the way to maintain a healthy body. Be kind to yourself. Of course, our society and virtually all others have several other dishonest problems interwoven into the fabric of unhealthy bodies but low-fat foods are a symptom of the disease not a solution.
Do we expect our politicians to disappoint us? Are they being anything other than what we “ask for” via our level of civic involvement and what and who we vote for? Is barely half the eligible voters voting once every four years really an honest assessment of our responsibility? Is the media any different? Are they not giving us exactly what we want, what we are honestly asking for with our wallets? And we demand lower and lower airline fares and “assemble at home furniture” and cars and electronics and everything else. We get baggage fees and seat choice fees along with patio tables held together with plastic parts because proper metal ones would cost a few bucks extra. We allow those long long disclaimers on ads for medicine and $99.99 meaning “under a hundred bucks”. This is all dishonest.
Unfortunately, it all becomes a giant game of chicken. You go first and I’ll follow. Well, someone has to go first, and it might as well be you and me. Being honest is tough, but like so many other things it gets easier with practice. This might sound familiar, simply replace “honest” with “compassionate” or “brave” or “kind” or virtually anything else that sounds like a nice word. They are all the same dilemma, just different wrappers. And like so many other things, once the honesty thing gets going it ripples outwards and someday will hit a tipping point at which point the rate of change will dramatically increase. And progress on the “honesty” campaign makes the “being compassionate” and the “sustainability” projects all the more successful as well.
