Money and morals (I)
Recent events, especially where money is concerned, has forced me to revisit a poem that made a good impression on me the first time l read it. It goes like this:
The invention
Of weights and measures
Makes robbery easier.
Signing contracts, and setting seals,
Makes robbery more sure.
Teaching love and duty
Provides a fitting language
With which to prove that robbery
Is really for the general good.
A poor man must swing
For stealing a belt buckle
But if a rich man steals a whole state
He is acclaimed
As statesman of the year.
Chuang Tzu
In fact, l felt sad reading and listening to comments by the general public following revelations that either some public officials had abused their office by way of going overboard with their spending or had not been too prudent when handling funds placed in their care.
Whereas the phenomenon cannot be described as new in this country, the alarming rate at which issues bordering on malfeasance are popping up every now and then makes it extremely worrying indeed.
As the poem goes, it appears that in the financial world there is no shortage of statesmen of the year. After all, as the Yiddish proverb says, with money in your pocket you are handsome and you sing beautifully too! This has perhaps forced a few “ugly” ones to find the money to have the looks and assume the voice of an angel!
If, indeed, that was not the case, then how come people who pride themselves on being highly moral stray from their principles when money is in the offing?
What is also baffling is that you are most likely to find yourself in jail if you steal a few hundreds but walk free when the money involved is huge. To me that appears to be the universal rule about breaking the law to make money.
And this rule is not limited to Ghana alone. As always, and as a student of financial history, let me quickly remind you of a situation that happened in the 1990s in the UK, which all but confirms the “universal law” that indeed when the amount of money involved is small one is most likely to be in jail when one steals.
Asil Nadir, in the 1990s, faced a bankruptcy petition for 60 million pounds sterling and a set of criminal charges so long that it instantly found a place in the Guinness Book of Records, but managed to “escape” lawful arrest to sun himself on a terrace in Northern Cyprus but Mrs Jones, who had refused or had not been able to pay for her television licence found herself in Holloway prison. Living in Britain then l saw the contrasting interest that these two situations generated.
I, therefore, would like to repeat the words of Jesus that “What profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?”
The point is, to steal a million you need help, and often dishonesty on a massive scale , which could also involve many people, most if not all of whom like to think of themselves as honest and upright people. Indeed, they will use their power and influence to protect themselves and thus you!
Why, oh why, does the chance of getting some money so often override the most dearly held principles?
Indeed, we need to consider our responsibility to other people and the consequences near and far of our actions.
As one writer notes: “Our actions are always a result of our choices, and we are not impelled to behave in any particular way except when we choose to see ourselves as being impelled to behave in a particular way.”
We always have a choice and our choice is our responsibility.
Not too long ago, a group of protestors occupied portions of the “Square Mile” in the City of London protesting against the high salaries and perks corporate bosses had awarded themselves when some of the organisations they ran had had to use public funds to stay afloat following the global financial crisis.
Those infamous men and women, failed to consider their actions in terms of their responsibility to others and the consequences of their actions. Indeed, they had failed to behave in an ethical manner.
In fact, these days, ethics has become a popular topic in business schools, yet its meaning still seems lost on many. For more than five years l thought ethics and ethics-related subjects both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels which offered me a real insight on the subject.
Therefore, l have come to understand- and appreciate- through research that ethics can be taught in two different ways; it can be taught using the model of absolute values, or as some theologians and philosophers say, first principles, or it can be taught in terms of how we all have our own individual way of seeing things, so values are relative to individuals and the situations in which they find themselves.