Has the ever popular Volkswagen Beetle really been around since dinosaurs roamed the earth?
Are telemarketers trustworthy? Members of Congress, car salespeople?
The answer to all of the above is a resounding: ‘no.’
The bottom-dwellers of the 2023 Gallup poll which ranked professions based on honesty and ethics were telemarketers, members of Congress, and car salespeople.
In fact, these three professions received no votes for “very high” standards.
So how do you know when you’re being told the truth?
As long as humans have walked this earth, trustworthiness has forever been questioned.
“Better to be among lions than among liars,” wrote one commentator on Psalm 12, adding “common honesty is no longer common.”
“No one is faithful anymore. Vanished from the human race,” observed another.
So how do you identify the shallow and the superficial, that which is cheap, cavalier, and fake?
In the J. Paul Getty catalogue of its museum pieces there’s a notation alongside a picture of a statue the once excited curators had purchased for just shy of $10M. That notation, that asterisk, is but two words: “modern forgery.” At the time Getty was “a young museum, eager to build a world-class collection, and (this statue was) such an extraordinary find that its experts were blinded to their instincts.” Getty so “desperately wanted the statue to be real” they declared it was. But, upon further review, turns out it wasn’t.
And right there is the answer for judging honesty, integrity, trustworthiness: “upon further review.”
Look closely. Investigate thoroughly. Do not be hasty.
Time is your friend, not your enemy.
Go slow.
