Great example of honesty
On July 17, 2009 a news report was published in The Daily Star under the heading "Rare example of honesty" and I learned that a rickshaw-puller returned Tk 2.5 lakh to its owner.
Such news makes me glad and at the same time sad by the hard fact that human beings are basically dishonest, otherwise we would have heard about acts of dishonesty once in a while and such news would have been cited as rare incidents. It would have been a different world altogether!
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Bangladesh is a poor country. More than 40% people are now living below poverty line. It's a country of cultural and religious harmony in which different cast, class and religious groups live peacefully.
Capitalism inextricably linked with globalisation ignites socio-economic disparity. As a result, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Besides the exiting socio-economic system encourages us to be more individualistic.
Now most of our thinking is self-centered rather than mass-people oriented. It results in a disintegration of family bond; now more and more extended families in many countries like Bangladesh are turning into nuclear families.
Dhaka is developing day by day into a concrete city. People from all the regions of Bangladesh are flocking to the capital city with a view to looking for jobs.
Most of them become rickshaw-pullers, day labours and domestic helps. Rickshaw-pullers suffer through an inhuman life. They have no permanent place to sleep at night. The so-called civilized society does not consider them as human beings.
But there are also a few people who are poor in terms of wealth but richer than wealthy people in terms of honesty and integrity. Once again we observed this in the capital city. Rupchan, a rickshaw-puller in the capital, has set a rare example of honesty by returning Tk 2.50 lakh to its custodian which he found abandoned on the road near Nilkhet on Wednesday. So we should appreciate him for his honesty because many of us might not be able to do it.
So, finally we can say there are not only dishonest people in society but also a few honest and upright men. They are our only hope.
Suman Saha, MBA (Strategic and International Management)
University of Dhaka
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