THE OPPORTUNITY COST OF HONESTY

Not everyone in a particular economy can afford honesty as a principle or ethic in one's life. To claim that one is an immoral person just because he is not honest in his profession, or his personal life will not be correct. 

In general, there are two ways of looking at the relation between individual and society. One is to put the responsibility of an ideal on individuals, that is to say, if an individual is dishonest, this makes the society dishonest. So, Using Kant's universalization principle, we put individuals on pressure of being the ideal of all without taking into consideration the socio-economic cost of their honesty that they have to pay. 

Another way of looking at the relation of individual and society is to put the individual in his conditions where each decision of his has an associated future consequence and a cost attached to it. This is what I am calling as the opportunity cost of honesty. When a man of lower caste practices honesty, there is a chance he gets deprived of education. A good example is that of Karna from Mahabharata. He lied to Lord Parshuram, in order to get education. How unequal the society must have been where the cost of education was his honesty and integrity as a student. 

Now, some people might argue that this is the sacrifice you should be willing to do if you want to be an honest man. There are two reasons why I do not agree with the above statement. Firstly, I do not agree with the fact that it is man's intrinsic wish to be honest. Individual, in my opinion, is doing a service to the mankind by being honest in his life. Now, if we assume this to be true, we will essentially conclude that Men should not suffer for their dishonesty. Men should not be put on a trial for being honest. Secondly, every individual, just by the virtue of his existence deserves love and respect. Existence, as meaningless as it sounds, it must be reciprocated by the society by adequate amounts of love and affection. 

In other words, the opportunity cost of non-existence or not dying must be love. One must be loved and respect regardless of which caste, creed, culture he comes from. If we assume this to be true, we will essentially conclude, that in such a society, Love and respect intrinsically drives honesty. A child who is loved to his core, will not lie. Moreover, he will not even know the reasons why one lies. 

Society Loves man =>Man Respects society => Honesty as a natural outcome 

But we do not live in such a society where Society gives before it demands. It demands honesty, irrespective of your social, economic, and political situations. I believe this is equivalent to judging individuals without affirmative action on their socio-historic situations and hardships. I call it, the unjust demand of honesty. 

Rather, society should create a condition where individuals find it easier to be honest rather than be dishonest. Individuals, in this kind of just society will naturally abide by rules and be honest. 

In the present unjustly demanding society, One can only hope as an individual to climb to some better socio-economic place, where he does not have to bear a lot of cost for his/her honesty. Yes, this is to some extent selfish. But This is the most unselfish kind of selfishness there exists. This is the noblest of the dreams one can dream. 

God! Please let me be in that situation where my mind does not shake in doing the right thing. 

Or as it is said in a famous song, 

"Itni Shakti Humein dena data, mann ka vishwaas kamzor ho na!"