Why is the value of honesty no longer recognized?

What is honesty? Before the practice, which we interpret rather loosely, are we sure we know the theory, that is, the full meaning of a word we should never waste? The etymology itself It points out a connection between “honesty” and “honor”, which is certainly not an economic category or one for judicial investigation.

The honestus, wrote Cicero with extraordinary synthesis, is the man worthy of honor and also endowed with good feelings (not to be confused with the do-goodism that was also widespread in the Roman age). And in English the translation of honest is honest, that is, he who tells the truth, another word that is not exactly easy to digest and metabolize.

For the Anglo-Saxons, Americans and English, Extremely skilled dishonest people when it comes to unscrupulous money-making, a politician's lie in public or private life is an unpardonable offense, much more so than a criminal offense. A politician caught in the act of lying is immediately judged as a dishonest (literally: dishonest), like someone who doesn't tell the truth, and therefore is not reliable. Similarly, the unfaithful taxpayer with his declarations set up so as not to pay taxes, risks prison, even long-term, and social isolation. There's no escape for the liar: once discovered, he's out of the picture.

In Italy, we know that the opposite happens: the chronic tax evader, given that no one likes paying taxes and everyone rightly tries to save money given that we have one of the highest tax burdens in the Western world, he is almost considered a hero, a role model, a guy to imitate. An arch-Italian who has a thousand reasons, all justified and understandable, to make a real mess of those fellow citizens (employed, self-employed and pensioners) who instead pay their taxes regularly, honestly, with honor for the sense of responsibility demonstrated and practiced.

And there is no form of social disapproval for dishonest people. On the contrary. For them, all the doors and gates are thrown open, especially those of the "drawing rooms that matter" and at most it might happen that someone holds their nose, but no one dares to distance themselves from the chronic dishonest. And yet, regarding the rampant dishonesty in the political sphere where too many confuse the means with the ends, that genius of Miguel de Cervantes in his Don Quixote, interpreter and protagonist of utopias that border on irreverent madness, wrote that honesty it is the "best policy", in the fullest sense of the word. And we, more than many others, Don Quixote we look a lot like Totò and Peppino, the unforgettable protagonists of the film The band of honest people, we are so blatantly dishonest.

The Myth Shattered: How False Sustainability Has Made the World More Unjust by Antonio Galdo (Codice Edizioni): if you want to read the book click here.

Corruption, and therefore theeclipse of honesty, has become one of Italy's great burdens. And if you look at some countries around the world, think of almost all the nations of South America, you can see that, if we fail to reduce this absolute evil, even the people who enjoy the greatest natural resources will end up drowning in poverty. Poverty affects everyone, except those wealthy carriers of the dishonesty virus. The lack of honesty, small and large, has tragically become a common factor that unites many sectors of our national community. Where the capital, Rome, has seen illegality, at all levels, become its most widespread and flourishing economic activity.

But if we truly want to combat or at least contain the lack of honesty, keeping our feet on the ground and considering man's natural attachment to money, power, success, and the idea of ​​achieving these goals at any cost, we cannot place it entirely on the shoulders of others.

It's too easy and convenient to pretend to be a beautiful soul, a chaste and pure soul, who then, perhaps, turns out to be more dishonest than the corrupt. Perhaps it's time to confront this enormous waste by holding up a mirror. Let's look at ourselves and ask ourselves, without arrogance, without presumed moral superiority, one simple question: "In my daily lifestyle, can I call myself an honest person?" And let's add: "Am I aware that a world where the value of honesty is no longer recognized can never be sustainable?" Lifestyles, sustainability, and a sense of community are intertwined, and I'll give you three examples, all referring to the "Italian case."

First example: i 120 billion a year evaded from taxes, in the form of tax evasion in its various and sometimes imaginative declinations, and therefore to the State, is money stolen from public spending on healthcare, education and research. Three pins of the Sustainable DevelopmentAt the same time, Italy has become the fifth highest taxpayer in the world, with just 1 percent of taxpayers declaring an income of more than 100 euros.

A second example, entering more directly into the parameters that define the environmental conditions of a modern country: the exploitation of the territory. In Italy, there are about three illegal buildings per day, on average, and don't come to me and talk about illegal building "out of necessity" (assuming that it is in any way justifiable), here we are in the presence of "mass illegal building", "mass dishonesty".

Third exampleWe are the European country with the highest percentage of waste ending up in landfills (40 percent), places of horror that Europe has been asking us to close for years, in vain. And at the same time, we are the country where one environmental crime every 18 minutesFor many people, and it's not just a small minority of scoundrels or members of the criminal gangs that have turned illegal waste into an industry, closing landfills simply isn't worth it. And these people, over the decades and thanks to the impunity that often accompanies dishonesty, have become too many.

Let's face it: in Italy dishonesty has taken over dimensions of a devastating and widespread mass phenomenon, as evidenced by the data on illegal building, whose rivulets have entered everywhere, to the point of substantially worsening the fabric of our civil coexistence. But one of the reasons why the ability to cheat In Italy, it's become a habit. It's not the functioning of our brains, which, by the way, are similar to those of any other citizen in the world, but rather the loss of value, meaning, and significance of the very word, honesty, and its opposite, dishonesty. As if there were no radical difference between the two terms, but rather a similarity that blurs all boundaries. So, to recover from this drift of people and nation, perhaps we should start from the practice rather than from the theory, from the rediscovery of words, of the lexicon, which form the first cardinal points of honesty.