Diogenes went around town with a lantern looking for an honest man whom he, presumably, never found. A lot of the problem is definitions, as in the proverbial differences between “truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Not only how honest, but how relevant is it to me.
For example, I recently bought a new cell phone at the Verizon store. Three hours later my family had three new phones to replace our 8-year-old ones and a not too much more expanded data plan. All very pleasant, well within what I expected to pay, no haggling or whining. I suppose maybe a little taken advantage of but I’d rather assume not.
People see the world through their own lenses. The guilty flee where no man pursueth. Crooks see everyone else as a dishonest crook. I prefer to try to stay internally honest and, at least within bounds, see most other people as reasonably honest as well. For 70-odd years such an approach has worked adequately for me.
In spite of Spencerian Darwinism, ecologies exhibit a great deal of balance, particularly within species. A degree of cooperation works well for herds and wolves as well. In society, it can drain a great deal of happiness and energy to be suspicious all the time, and in my perception is usually not worth the effort.
So I set my limits, go forth, and am often pleasantly surprised. An old fool, but a contented one.
HuntingtonHarborThoughts 