We live in a world where "actions speak louder than words", yet the "pen is mightier than the sword". Pardon the dichotomy, but it's gotta be one or the other.
Sometimes I wonder what it'd be like to live in a society where honour truly existed. A society where taking someone's word meant everything, and we didn't try to find outs of responsibility by hiring a lawyer to look for possible loopholes in a formal agreement.
When I make a promise, I sincerely intend to keep it. It's one of the actual few things that I do feel bad about. If I say that I'm going to be somewhere at a certain time, and I come ridiculously late, I actually do feel bad. If I say I'm going to do something, I actually try to do it.
If I don't plan on doing something...why say it? If I don't plan on calling you back, I won't say "I'll call you back", because there's a reason "bye" is a word.
Also, to the people that say that "promises are meant to be broken", I honestly hope that you get hit by a bus. The fact that stupidity like this manages to pop into someone's mind as a result of synaptic connections WORKING, boggles my mind.
I hate how social contracts have become to be concepts taken so light-heartedly by everyone. RSVPing, or making plans, only to cancel last-minute for illegitimate reasons are common occurrences and something that we've become accustomed to say "oh well!" or "whoops!" to.
Or how about cheating when you're in a relationship? This is another social contract - and one that you shouldn't be a part of if you can't commit to it. It's saddening to know that people accept "I was drunk" as an excuse.
Call me old-fashioned, but these kinds of things REALLY offend me. It's hard to have faith in humanity when the most basic and rudimentary concepts of courtesy and respect can't even be honoured. Sure, people make mistakes...but most of them are avoidable.
Or maybe I'm just expecting too much.
Peace,
- knowledge
This one's right on point.. and no, you're not expecting too much, people just have to get on your level.
ReplyDeleteHmm, interested in the influence of this post. Completely agree though!
ReplyDeleteSam-
^ context:
ReplyDeleteAbout a year ago, some guy on a forum that I'm on asked whether honour even existed anymore. The guy ran his own business, and was given instructions by a client to do something. He did what the client said, but the instructions were wrong, and the client would not accept blame for it. Instead of taking it to court, dude just had to look past it because this client provided consistent business.
Aside from that, it was just another thing that I randomly thought about weeks ago & wrote a little blurb on it.
As extreme as it may be, I find the Samuarai's concept of Seppuku to be very respectable.
- knowledge