A popular commentator's article in a Sunday newspaper on the subject of our "acceptance of wealth as a condition without morality" made interesting reading for me, for of late I have been mystified by the ease with which many in this country, especially those in positions of influence, are involved in the pursuit of the almighty dollar without an iota of conscience.
Examples seem to abound, as in the current share purchases case ... not only for the alleged perpetrator but for a chairperson who endorsed it and a broker who seemed to have facilitated it, both insisting that no law was broken.
On the same continuum, one remembers the feeding frenzy at two financial houses with the culpable principals now enjoying their freedom from prosecution while investors languish with little hope of redress, and in other recent news there is the dismissal of one manager for "recycling" vagrants onto the streets for his own private gain!
And everywhere there is so much talk of kickbacks and sweetheart deals! But this is not only at the corporate level. Almost everywhere, one wants to make a free buck with no call of conscience, manoeuvring circumstances for an HDC house, or giving minimum work for a day's pay in the social programmes, or fleecing you at the vendor's stall, or real estate agents indulging in decimals (2.5 million) rather than the zeros of old (.000).
In fact, I was the unhappy victim of the love of money last weekend when a house owner from Gasparee insisted that I pay him for two and a half nights instead of the two for which I stayed; and he charged me exorbitant prices for drinks which he assured me would be available on the island, but were not!
But it's not only for money! This absence of a sense of right and wrong is seen in other ways, like the way ministers exploit the poor for sex, or flatter their leaders just to survive politically and to "eat ah food," or the way people in senior positions falsify their qualifications, inter alia.
But where did this lack of scruples in acquiring wealth and in other forms of behaviour come from? The commentator above was suggesting that this is ingrained in us from our historic/cultural evolution, citing instances in our history where so much was gained for so little in exchange, which is continuing into the present.
But for me, it goes much further. It has now almost become high culture because of a governance structure, political and otherwise, which turns a blind eye to the "acceptance of wealth as a condition without morality" and to other forms of exploitative behaviour.
This practice is so pervasive that changing it seems hopeless, but we must continue to let our voices be heard, so that as far as wealth is concerned, acquiring it should only be out of diligent hard work. With respect to action in general, we must know that the unconscionable has no place in civilised behaviour.
Dr Errol Benjamin
via e-mail