The Last Decent Man in The World?

Ever since that little girl asked me "Why did all the world become evil at the same time?" and I was stumped for a reply, I've been casually toying with memories of The Honour Code, Virtue and The Honest and wondering whatever has become of it! 

I grew up in The British Colonial Service where, despite what everyone thinks today, a spotless reputation and a Good Name, being seen as "A Person of Honour and Virtue", were the highest prize and The Honour Code and being Pukka and Doing Right were held up not just as ideals but TO BE LIVED AT ALL TIMES, and all our maxims "Behave the same in your private life as you do in your public life" and "Act without Fear or Favour", "Deliberate without Fear or Favour", "Judge without Fear or Favour" and "The man who makes the rules must be the first to keep the rules." and "Make sure your compass always points to True North." were the very foundations of how we lived our daily lives.

Today? Whoosh!  All gone!  And not just gone but the very memory of who we once were is now being trampolined on by the hob-nail boots of hideous little people who just don't get it and hate us because we once did!

This Cowardly New World we all now live in, where we're all being dictated to by commercial enterprises, judged by what we possess and whatever we own isn't good enough after only a few weeks, and it's all so squishy and vile and "fashionable".  And even what we think is like in that David Bowie song "Fashion. Turn to the Left. Fashion. Turn to the Right." and we never ever even allowed to believe that there's some IDEAL right there At Bedrock Level that is Good and Decent and Honourable and True and For-All-Time Worth The Effort!  And even mentioning the idea that there has to be something worth believing in is, these days, liable to have you scoffed and sneered at by Clever-clever "Fashion. Turn to the Left. Fashion. Turn to the Right." types!

And now it's all come down to a little girl asking "Why did all the world become evil at the same time?" and I don't know what to reply.

And don't talk to me about god!  Yesterday, Jason sent me some little news story about the Atheists and Christians going head-to-head over some issue and all I could see was two sides each as ugly and as dogmatic as the other and it made me shudder. 

Once, several decades ago, when I was in a similar state of despair, I went all Diogenes and tried to hunt out An Honest Man. I selected those I thought would make the cut and went on a deep search into their lives. And I hate to tell you this but with every biography I read, the Possible Suspects went down, one after another:  Ghandi?  Are you kidding?  Albert Einstein?  What a PIG!!!  Nelson Mandala?  Hate to say this but NO!!! 

In the end, I did find An Honest Man, and in a place I didn't suspect:  Captain James Cook.  Dig all you want!  Scratch down to the bone!  Look anyplace you like, you will never find Captain Cook ever acting with less than the greatest honour.  The worst I ever heard was a snippet in some ridiculous American biography that said Captain Cook considered animal buggery a perfectly reasonable topic of conversation perhaps because, as a farm boy, he was into sex with animals himself.

I was so completely taken aback I immediately hunted up the reference cited.  It was from his log where he says he met a group of South African farmers and had a very pleasant conversation with them about the various ways Africans husbanded animals!  Since we sane people know the word "husband" here refers to "take care of", it was just such a stupid mistake I laughed uproariously!

But that was in the past.  Is there An Honest Man alive today?

Susan is talking about this fellow, American Senator Bernie Sanders from Montana, and the speech he recently made in Washington.  I've checked it out and I have to say I am so impressed.



Is it possible that there is finally a decent person in the American Senate?

However, being Diogenes here, and thus A Cynic, is he The Honest Man I'm after?